'Being a Cop Made Him Feel Good'
A Lost Guardian is Mourned

By REUVEN BLAU

Police Officer Russel Timoshenko loved his yellow motorcycle, exercising before and after his overnight tours, making everyone around him laugh, and most of all helping people.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James A FINAL SALUTE: Police Officers carry Russel Timoshenko's coffin out of the I.J. Morris funeral home in Brooklyn. He was fatally shot after pulling over a stolen BMW July 9.

That driving desire to assist others led him to join the NYPD in his senior year of college in January 2006, after taking business and engineering courses, his friends and family recalled during his funeral service in Brooklyn July 19.

'Way to Make an Impact'

"It was his senior year in college when this talented honor student chose this new direction for his life," his friend David Levin remembered. "It provided him with a means to have a direct positive impact on the community."

Thousands of officers in dress-blue uniforms lined the streets several rows deep outside the I.J. Morris funeral home on Flatbush Ave. in Flatlands to pay tribute to the murdered officer, Mr. Timoshenko, who was posthumously promoted to Detective.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James A DESIRE TO HELP OTHERS: Russel Timoshenko's parents, Leonid and Tatyana, are escorted by cops after receiving the flag which was draped over their son's coffin at the end of his funeral service June 19. He was remembered as a promising college student who during his senior year joined the NYPD because he wanted to dedicate his life to assisting people.

They waited quietly outside, as his parents and family said their last goodbyes in front of the open coffin. The sea of blue saluted as the flag-draped casket was delicately marched into an awaiting hearse by eight pallbearers wearing white gloves.

The silence of the procession was pierced by the noise of four NYPD helicopters that flew overhead in a missing-man formation, the somber sounds of a church choir singing hymns in Russian, which then mixed into two department trumpeters blowing "Taps."

Shooters Charged

Officer Timoshenko, 23, who was shot in the face and neck after he and his partner stopped a stolen car in Brooklyn, died 5-1/2 days later of his injuries on July 14. Three men with extensive criminal records - Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis and Lee Woods - have all been charged with first-degree murder.

"By stopping that car," Mayor Bloomberg told mourners, "he and Officer Herman Yan helped us capture three career criminals whose appetite for evil knew no bounds, saving who knows how many future victims, people who will never know how lucky they are."

'He Was My Hero'

Mr. Levin noted that he and Officer Timoshenko were born in a small town in Belarus, just days apart. "Yet we met here, halfway across the world," he said. "To me, he was not only my best friend, but also my hero."

He taught him how to ride a motorcycle, play basketball, and lacrosse. "Russel was always there," he remembered, "naturally cheerful, positive, with a unique sense of humor that could bring a smile to anyone's face."

Inside the packed funeral home, friends and family members remembered Mr. Timoshenko as a caring, fun, enthusiastic young man whose life was cut short by a senseless act of violence.

"Our parents came here to provide us with a better life - a dream Russel will no longer be able to carry on," he said. "We all feel cheated that such a great person was taken away from us so young."

Kelly's Tribute

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly recalled that Mr. Timoshenko was reluctant to tell his parents that he had joined the NYPD because he didn't want to worry them. "Even though it was difficult, his parents accepted and respected their son's decision," Mr. Kelly said, referring to Leonid and Tatyana.

After graduating in the top 15 percent of his class, his family celebrated with a party, where he explained why he chose to become a Police Officer. "I want to go to work each day and help people," Mr. Kelly said he told them in Russian. "I want to come home each night and feel good about what I have done."

Many watched the two-hour service via a video hookup inside a separate room in the funeral home. It was conducted in Slavonic Russian, and included hymns sung by a small choir.

"It's always difficult to accept the death of someone who was taken away from us in an instant," Bishop Gabriel Chemodakov told mourners. "Russel had the opportunity to become many things in life. He chose to become a Police Officer because this is what he longed to do."

'Always a Step Ahead'

He came to the United States when he was 9 years old and didn't speak English. "Russel always seemed to be a step ahead of everyone," Mr. Bloomberg said, "on the lacrosse field at Tottenville High School, in the classroom at City College - he was a true leader."

During his brief career, he made 15 arrests, including apprehending a rape suspect, Mr. Kelly said. On July 7, just two days before he was shot, he arrested a man who was carrying an illegal knife and had four outstanding criminal warrants.

"Russel never talked about the dangers of the job," Mr. Kelly said. "He was simply devoted to the work and the opportunity it gave him to safeguard the city."

Officer Timoshenko had a tattoo of an angel on his back, which Mr. Kelly said was "an emblem of his role as a guardian here on earth."