There is heartbreak in Hartford, after fallen Hartford Police Detective Robert “Bobby Garten” is laid to rest. The 34-year-old was killed in the line of duty last week when his cruiser was struck by a car fleeing a separate traffic stop.
With heavy hearts, hundreds of police officers from across Connecticut congregated at the XL Center in downtown Hartford on Saturday morning to say goodbye to one of their own.
At Garten’s funeral, family and fellow police officers shared memories and emotional tributes, including his surviving partner, Officer Brian Kearney.
“A partner’s love is one that takes two strangers and makes them brothers, brothers who promise to be there for each other, no matter what,” Kearney said.
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Officer Kearney was seriously injured in the crash, but was released from Saint Francis Hospital on Wednesday, and in a wheelchair, he led fellow officers in a procession to Det. Garten’s wake at Dunkin Park Friday.
By the Celebration of Life on Saturday, Kearney was out of the wheelchair, but tearing up as he discussed the perils he and Detective Garten faced every day working side-by-side in the street crimes unit.
“I'm here because Bob's took such good care of me,” he said.
From brothers in blue, to blood brothers.
“You were born my little brother, and died my hero,” William Peter Garten, Detective Garten’s older brother, said.
William Peter Garten told the audience his brother shared a deep passion for police work with their dad. He said it was something Bobby always asked his detective father about as a little kid before becoming a second-generation Hartford police officer himself.
“They both understood that they were doing a dangerous job and didn't know if they were going to make it back home,” William Peter Garten said.
Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody posthumously promoted Bobby Garten to the rank of detective, presenting his retired father with Bobby’s new badge.
“He was smiling because if things got more demanding, he worked harder. That was Bobby's way,” Chief Thody said.
Garten's parents spent a somber moment at the side of their son’s casket.
As the state mourns a fallen hero, the scene was all too familiar to another Connecticut police department.
“It reminds us that we all go through this stuff, and just brings us a lot closer to each other,” Chief Brian Gould, Bristol Police, told NBC Connecticut.
Bristol’s police chief is showing support to Hartford now, as that city approaches the one-year anniversary of losing two police officers of their own.
“We need them to know that we will never forget him, we stand by them,” Chief Gould said.
In a procession from Garten’s funeral at the XL Center to a burial at Village Cemetery in his hometown of Wethersfield, the detective left the city he served and loved with the Hartford Police Department’s highest honor.
“The Medal of Valor,” Officer Kearney said.
The road ahead to healing is a long one.
“I love you Bob, and I will see you again,” Kearney said. "Unit 133, signing off.”
