Policeman was fatally shot in the line of duty last year
By JEFFREY M. BARKER,SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERJuly 11, 2002
Rosathe Underwood helps her son, Estaban, 3, break ground for a new park to be named after her husband, Steven Underwood, a Des Moines police officer who was killed last year. Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
DES MOINES — Dick Underwood remembers his son often.
Several times each week, he drives by the spot on Pacific Highway South where his son was gunned down last year.
“I see him every day,” Underwood said.
Yesterday, the city of Des Moines broke ground on the Steven J. Underwood Memorial Park, a 20-acre facility with ballfields named for the only police officer ever to die in the line of duty in this small city.
Underwood’s 3-year-old son, Esteban, turned the first dirt-filled shovel.
“He’s just like his daddy,” said Underwood’s widow, Rosathe Underwood. “He walks like him, talks like him.”
Sometimes, Esteban asks to fly to heaven to visit his dad, she said.
“I think he waited for me to grieve,” she said. “Now that I’m getting a little bit better, he’s grieving.”
Underwood, 33, was shot and killed on Pacific Highway South on March 7, 2001, when he stopped to talk to four pedestrians. Flowers still mark the spot, in front of the Legend Motel. And Rosathe visits there, but quickly. It’s too hard to stay long, she said.
“That’s where he was killed.”
Soon, she will have a more peaceful place to remember her husband — a place with soccer fields and softball diamonds, a walking trail and a memorial plaza.
The park, at 20th Avenue South and South 218th Street, was made possible by several grants, including one of $185,000 from King County and one of $10,000 from Starbucks.
But the city is still in need of donations to fund the memorial plaza, parks director Patrice Thorell said. Those who wish to donate time or money can contact Annette Chomica in the city’s Park and Recreation Department at 206-870-6547.
Charles Champion, 19, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in Underwood’s death. Police say he sought to avoid arrest on a warrant. If convicted, he could become the youngest person sent to death row in more than 60 years in the state.
Last week, Champion’s trial was postponed until January to give his lawyers more time to prepare.
Yesterday, no one talked of the trial, nor of Champion.
“There are moments — little things that hit and make the officers remember,” police Chief Donald Obermiller said.
“This will never be out of their minds.”
Officer Randy Gallagher, who worked the graveyard shift with Underwood, said his fellow officer remains on his mind. “You always see something that reminds you,” he said, adding that the park will be a better way to remember.
“This is cool,” Gallagher said. “At least people will think of something good when they see his name.”
A plaque with Underwood’s likeness will hang at the park’s entrance.
The park will be a place where Esteban can visit and be proud of his father, Rosathe Underwood said.
“He’ll be able to see that his dad didn’t die for no reason,” she said. “He’ll see that his dad was a hero.”
July 11, 2002
JEFFREY M. BARKER