On wednesday, march 25th i did just that, something i hope i never have to do again. I want to say thank you for the family for allowing me into their lives that morning at their most vulnerable time. A little bit about mike. He was working at good guys when an officer came in and befriended him. This officer became a mentor for michael. He became interested in becoming a san jose officer and became an officer and retired. He was a 14 year veteran. He enjoyed bringing baked goods as eddy mentioned for the staff. Even when he rotated out he would bring them goods. Good stuff that he made. Cheesecake was his specialty i hear. He also worked our covert response unit. He became to share experience and mold new recruits. I was part of Crisis Intervention Team and specialist. He received ongoing training as a First Responder providing patrol supervisors during a critical incident. Michael had the makings of a great fto and mentor. Michael is what we stand for, a san jose officer prototype. He always had a smile on his face, very respectful, professional, physically fit. It is the type of officer that would get the job done, very responsive and engaged in the citizens he protected. One example, while at a vigil at the scene last friday night a woman crying hurtedly approached me holding on tightly to a sad young boy. She smoke limited english and i was so upset i didnt know exactly what she wanted. I quickly walked her over to at officer thinking that she needed police assistance. She wanted to convey she came into contact with officer johnson. She was at her whits end with her young son. He was defiant, didnt want to go to school. That day he sat the boy down and had a conversation about listening to his mother, his education, staying out of trouble and the con chemical weapons. She consequences. She was crying because it was that talk that changed her son for the better. He was no longer defiant, his attitude changed 180 degrees. That was michael. He exemplified what an officer should strive to be. Michaels sister will talk more about michael. He was a remarkable human being. It also seemed like he was rigorously simple, very brave. One quick story about maybe that a little bit, but a quick lead in, michael collected coins. He picked it up from his mother, katherine. At one point she collected over 1300 i think it was, which michael helped count with his counting machine i think it was. One day his wife needed clang to buy something. I forget if it was close to 30 some odd cents. She was with michael. He thought long and hard and looked at her and gave her a dollar bill. He was not going give up his coins. [ laughter ] coins were too precious to part with, right . On that miserable night, march 24th the only thing that michael had in his uniform pant pockets were his keys and some coins. Bare essentials, rigorously simple. Well, nikkie i have these coins with me today. Those coins are for you from michael. This horrible incident has hit the lives and heart of everybody throughout our city and beyond. Citizens mourned and cried together. The expression of gratitude towards our officers for doing their job and protecting them was extremely gratifying and heartfelt. Since that night there is an enormous uplift in shift or momentum with our community. We need to capture that, not let it dwindle and die. The speaker called it the new norm. It has definitely brought unity, forged stronger bonds, increased compassion and created opportunity to bridge gaps, let michaels life not be forgotten but be the catalyst for the new normal. To michaels family, we are here for you and will continue to be. Thank you for allowing me to speak today, getting to know you, allowing know reflect in your story telling and letting us honor michael in this manner. Michael, you deserve nothing less. Michael, as you will always be in our hearts and minds our officers will never forget for all of our city officials and Public Safety partners here and specifically all of our San Jose Police Department Family from the bottom of our hearts please accept our insere condolences that god be watching over you and god bless mike. Thank you. Thank you chief esquivel. It is my pleasure to present to you the 32nd attorney general camila harris. To officer Michael Johnsons wife, his mother and her husband, dan. His father daniel and his wife penny, his sister jamie and all of his loved ones, there are no words that can match the depth of your loss so i will say i join millions of californians in expressing this to you. Our prayers and deepest thinks are with you. To chief Larry Esquivel and the entire Police Department and to president paul kelly and the San Jose Police officers association. The California Department of justice and the states entire Law Enforcement community are here for you during this difficult and tragic time. You have our unwaivering support. Today we honor San Jose Police officer Michael Johnson whose end of watch was march 24th. While i did not have the chance to know him personally i know from speaking with those who did that he was a beloved husband, son, brother and friend and a committed public servant. Officer johnson or mike as we know him dedicated 14 years of his life to the most noble of professions putting his life on the line to keep our community and great state safe. In so doing he followed in the footsteps of his father daniel, a 28 year retired sergeant. Each and every day across this great state Law Enforcement officers go to work from paired to give their lives. Prepareed to fulfill that oath to protect the people of the state of california. Like officer johnson they have put service above self and they do so without any expectation of award or reward i want to take this moment to thank each and every Law Enforcement officer here and across our state for the sacrifices you make every day to keep us safe. Words cannot do justice to the importance of your role in our neighborhoods, community and state. Each day that you leave for your shift and say goodbye to your families and your loved ones you do the work of engaging in an act of extreme courage and sacrifice. And to the families of those officers, you sacrifice so much when you received them at the end of their shift with love and support. In that way you too give so much to our state. Officer johnsons Public Safety service will never be forgotten. It will live on in the noble work that california Law Enforcement officers do every day when they put on that badge and protect our communities. This ultimate sacrifice is an eternal reminder that safety comes at a supreme price and that price must always be remembered by a grateful state and her people. To all of you who are here today thank you for honoring Police Officer Michael Johnson and may he rest in eternal peace. Thank you attorney general harris. By now we all know the story of mikes Academy Class and the unfortunate bond that they all share. Mike is the seconds from that Academy Class to give the ultimate sacrifice for this think. Former San Jose Police department will represent Academy Number 3 and officer us some reflections on mike. Matthew 5 it. Blessed are the peacemakers for they should be called the sons of god. Thats what we are. Thats what we all are, all of you wearing the patch right here, right now, we are sons of god. Mike is a son of god. To the johnson family, we hurt for you like you would not believe. Your family is here and by that i mean everybody that is here is your family. For those of you who have come across the country for states all over the place, its amazing that youre here right now we love seeing you here although its something thats not so exciting. For those of you who have never met mike hopefully youll learn a little bit about your Family Member. For everybody else here, the good news is you will probably not get a ticket driving out of here today. Officer dave solis previous badge 3713 forever Academy Class 3. Michael was part of that Academy Class 3. We came together january 2001 a bunch of strangers, scared, afraid. We didnt know what we were getting ourselves into. Most of us were kids who were about two. Mario and stan had to do anything with you. We were sizing each other up. We didnt flow what was know what was going on. I remember the first time i noticed mike. We had instruction on some type of firearm law or weapon, something so obscure and ridiculous. He got into an argument with the instructor about it. I remember thinking to myself, who is this guy, what is he doing . Shut up, youre going to get yourself kicked out of here, but no. He kept going. I think that thought process carried throughout our academy for that next 15 seconds of arguing. I just remembered thinking to myself, who is this guy . We took a quick break. The instructor came back ten minutes later and apologized to the class. [ laughter ] of course mike was right. [ laughter ] im telling you, it was a section that was in a Fortune Cookie at the bottom of the ocean somewhere, you would never use it. Thats who i realized that very second who mike was, he was yoda. [ laughter ] i was told by several academy mates as we were tacking about mike, the way they were introduced to him was during our raffling time which was a thumb to the back of the ear which shot pain down the course of their entire bodies by mike which had absolutely nothing to do with what we were learn that day. [ laughter ] thats when we also found out he was this je di guy but we were glad to have him on our side. Forget about marching and coordination at that time. He marched like a duck with three legs on crutches. It was a mess every time. We laughed and cried and eventually he worked it out. [ laughter ] we became friends throughout the course of the academy. We evolved from strangers. We studied together, we lived together, we partied together when we probably should have been studying together. By the end of the academy we were family. We were bound class 3 family for life. We knew it. There was something about our class that was different from everything else. We were pretty tight. We got out onto the street, went through our training and we lost our first Family Member jeff fontana. It rocked us to the core like i could not tell you. A lot of us reconsidered what we were doing for a living. We realized this was not a game. This is real life. We changed the way we lived that day forever. We became even closer together. Class 3 was stitched together closer than ever. Here we are 14 years later. We lost another Family Member. Here we are again, class 3, welding ourselves together. Mike paid the ultimate sacrifice doing exactly what he loved, what he trained for since day one in the academy. He died doing exactly what he loved to do. Theres no many of us that can say that or will be able to say that in this world. When we lose somebody suddenly like this we often ask ourselves we beat up on ourselves ton honest with you. Why didnt i tell them i loved them, appreciated them . All of the things we want today say but well never be able to say. We didnt get to do that with mike based on the way that he was taken from us, but we here surviving him. I think one of the ways we can choose to honor mike is choose to live differently. We can do it with the people we love today. We can do it with our wives, husbands, family, friends, tell them you appreciate them and you love them. We dont know when they will be taken away. Choose to live differently. We can honor mike that way. We are gathered together here at the shark tank. Normally people come here to scream and cheer for their heros, athletes, movie stars, singers. Obviously this is much different and to me much more important. I believe that mike is looking down on us right now and he is watching us. I believe truly in my heart that he can hear this. What i would like to do is i would like us all to take that opportunity to take that time to appreciate and to love him. In a minute i want to give mike a standing ovation for the life that he lived and for the life that he gave. If theres anything that you want to say, miss him, love him, say it outloud and lets rock this place. This is much more important than a game. This is real life. So if you would with me on the count of three i want to give mike a standing ovation for the life that he gave for us. One, two, three. [ cheers and applause ] cheers and applause ] cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] thank you, guys. I want to just Say Something before i end this, to those of you who are out there right now that are either here or watching this that are thinking of being a Police Officer, if you just started the academy or youre about to graduate, dont quit. Dont let this make you quit. Choose to live differently. Its this that brings us together, to make us stronger. Everybody has a choice to decide how they want to deal with this, but if youre considering quitting youre doing yourself a disservice. This will build strength, wisdom, character that you cant get from a tv or a game show. This is real life. I urge you not to quit, push forward, keep going, do not quit. To mike, we thank you for your life and your sacrifice for us. Death did not make you a hero. You were already a hero while you lived. You are forever stitched to us, bonded to us and now your heart will beat through ours. Thank you. [ cheers and applause ] before i start telling embarrassing stories about my brother, i want to thank the San Jose Police department, the incredible support they have given my family over the last 9 days. The department has gone above and beyond in taking care of my family and helping us navigate these difficult waters they represented the brotherhood and sisterhood here and across the nation. We want to thank the community. The outpouring of support from local businesses and individuals have greatly helped my family and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts as you may have heard my brother was a San Jose Police officer. When we grew up together, i knew he would grow up to be a cop. He always looked up to her dad, dan johnson, who was the best cop ever. When we played cops and robbers, he always insisted on being the cop. I grew up to become a lawyer. Even more so, my brother genuinely cared about truth, justice and helping people with the same passion he applied to every aspect of his life he approached everything with a go big or go home attitude he didnt just play chess, he was the captain of the chess team. He earned seconddegree black belt and taught kids. My brother didnt just make a good cheesecake with my brothers top secret recipe, he made the best cheesecake you ever ate. He didnt just keep it secret, he literally stored it in his gun safe mike didnt just travel, he
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