Published on Friday, April 28, 2006
in the St. Petersburg Times

For one family, honor is a heartache

DADE CITY - Six law officers have died in the line of duty in Pasco County since 1922. Law enforcement tradition demands each man's memory be kept alive.

"It's our history; it's our heritage," said Pasco sheriff's Lt. Mike Schreck. "It's important that we always remember these folks."

For one family, constant reminders have become too much.

Michael and Vivian Crooks won't attend Tuesday night's ceremony at the Historic County Courthouse honoring their son. Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James "Brad" Crooks was the fifth officer killed in the line of duty in Pasco.

In fact, since 2003, the family has asked law enforcement not to contact them whatsoever.

"Their request, which we respect, was that they wanted to move on," said Col. Christopher Knight, the FHP's top commander. "The situation of Brad's passing kept coming up by continuous tributes by law enforcement in praise to him.

"Their request was very polite. They are an excellent family ... but they didn't feel they could move on when there was constant memorials and services in the years (since) Brad (was) killed in the line of duty."

Their son, just 23, was not even a trooper for a year when he was gunned down on the Interstate 75 exit ramp of State Road 54 on May 19, 1998.

He was the last slain in a murderous three-county rampage that also left two Tampa police detectives and a 4-year-old boy dead. Their killer, Hank Earl Carr, was finally cornered inside an east Hernando gas station. He took his own life as armored deputies stormed inside.

For years after Crooks' death, the family and his then-fiancee, Nadine LaMonte, attended the many services honoring hi m in Washington, Tallahassee, Tampa and Land O'Lakes.

Tuesday, though, Crooks will be the only fallen officer not represented by family, or LaMonte, who is also trying to move on.

LaMonte had met Crooks at the University of South Florida. Back then she was a teacher at Deltona Elementary School in Spring Hill, whose second-graders knew "Trooper Brad" because he was always helping out. Her wedding dress had been fitted when he was slain.

Now 33, she married Jason Lambert in 2000. The couple live in Pasco, where they've started a family. She declined to comment Thursday, but told the Sheriff's Office she is in constant contact with the Crookses. They don't want to attend, she said, and didn't even want invitations mailed. The Crookses could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In 1999, at a dedication ceremony renaming the FHP's Land O'Lakes substation and a stretch of State Road 54 after Crooks, Lambert told the St. Petersburg Times that after 11/2 years of mourning, she knew eventually she had to move on.

"There does come a time when closure has to happen," she said.

Knight remembers the last time he spoke to Michael Crooks. He called the family to invite them to a February 2003 ceremony dedicating a memorial to the 40 fallen troopers at the FHP academy. But the father of the 38th trooper to die in the line of duty told Knight the family just couldn't do it anymore.

"The simple request from the father was, "We want to move past this,"' the colonel said. "We appreciate the way the patrol has handled this, but as a family we want to move on after Brad's passing.' And we respect that."

Knight calls the families of each trooper on the anniversary of their deaths. At the Crookses' request, he no longer calls them each May 19.

Crooks left Clewiston to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer. Joining the patrol was a struggle for him. He was known as a tenacious recruit at the FHP academy because he had to shed weight to earn his badge, and he did.

His body was returned to Clewiston for a funeral so large it was held in the John Boy Auditorium.

Crooks and his family will always be a part of the FHP family, Knight said, even if from afar.

"We're always here for them should they want to reach out to us," he said, "and they know that."