‘Thank you’: Crowds pay respects as police procession heads to memorial service for Nicholas Vella
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On a crisp, cloudless morning, more than 300 law enforcement vehicles filed past the Huntington Beach Pier on Pacific Coast Highway on Tuesday, March 8, to honor police helicopter pilot Nicholas Vella, who died last month on duty in a helicopter crash in Newport Harbor.
About 100 people gathered at Main Street and PCH to watch the Huntington Beach Police motorcycles and cars, lights blinking, in transit to the Honda Center in Anaheim, where Vella’s memorial service would be held. The long procession began at police headquarters and traveled down PCH to Magnolia toward the freeway.
Members of the Huntington Beach Fire Department salute as the funeral procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella enters Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Vella was killed in a police helicopter crash on February 19, 2022 off Newport Beach.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
More than 100 people gathered at the foot of the pier during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Members of the Huntington Beach Police Department hug outside the funeral for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Vella was killed in a police helicopter crash on February 19, 2022 off Newport Beach.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lifeguard Jakob Kress hugs his mother, Jan Schroeder, after they, and his father, Jeff Kress, watched a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Schroeder’s brother was a police officer who was killed 16 years ago. She said watching the funeral procession brought back memorial of her brother’s funeral. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lana Sargent waves a flag as she joins more than 100 people gathered at the foot of the pier during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A procession down Katella Avenue in Anaheim takes place for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Uniformed personnel line the street and salute before the funeral service. Vella died in a helicopter crash Feb. 19 off the waters in Newport Beach. He was an 18-year law enforcement veteran with 14 years on the force in Huntington Beach. Before joining Huntington Beach’s department he worked in Laguna Beach. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hundreds of vehicles head south on Pacific Coast Highway during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A Huntington Beach Police helicopter sits outside the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 during the funeral procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella. Vella was killed in a police helicopter crash on February 19, 2022 off Newport Beach.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A procession down Katella Avenue in Anaheim takes place for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Uniformed personnel line the street and salute before the funeral service. Vella died in a helicopter crash Feb. 19 off the waters in Newport Beach. He was an 18-year law enforcement veteran with 14 years on the force in Huntington Beach. Before joining Huntington Beach’s department he worked in Laguna Beach. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Huntington Beach lifeguards salute as hundreds of vehicles head south on Pacific Coast Highway during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Deanne Cerbenak, left, and her husband, Mike Cerbenak, hold a flag at the foot of the pier during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hundreds of vehicles head south on Pacific Coast Highway during a procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. On Feb. 19, Vella and another officer were responding to a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter hit a strip of water between Lido Isle and the Balboa Peninsula. Vella, a 14-year veteran with the police department, died in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and daughter (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Members of the Huntington Beach Fire Department salute as the funeral procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella enters Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Vella was killed in a police helicopter crash on February 19, 2022 off Newport Beach.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jim Lace, with the Patriot Guard Riders, stands at attention as the funeral procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella enters Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Vella was killed in a police helicopter crash on February 19, 2022 off Newport Beach.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Fire fighters hustle to get control of a wind-whipped flag before the funeral procession for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella in Anaheim on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Vella died in a helicopter crash Feb. 19 off the waters in Newport Beach. He was an 18-year law enforcement veteran with 14 years on the force in Huntington Beach. Before joining Huntington Beach’s department he worked in Laguna Beach. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A procession down Katella Avenue in Anaheim takes place for Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Uniformed personnel line the street and salute before the funeral service. Vella died in a helicopter crash Feb. 19 off the waters in Newport Beach. He was an 18-year law enforcement veteran with 14 years on the force in Huntington Beach. Before joining Huntington Beach’s department he worked in Laguna Beach. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
For onlooker Norm Olson, it was personal. Six years ago, Olson bought $60 in raffle tickets at a community fundraiser to win a ride on a police department helicopter.
His pilot was Vella, and they flew in the same helicopter that went down.
“It was a great trip,” said Olson, a retired Toyota sales representative. “We flew up and down the coast and landed on the top of City Hall just because we could.
“He told me, ‘Can you believe I get paid for this? It’s a dream job.’”
Huntington Beach resident Jan Schroeder wept as she watched the procession while clasping a sign that read, simply, “Thank you.”
“My brother was a Cleveland police officer who died in the line of duty 16 years ago,” said Schroeder, who teaches kinesiology at Cal State Long Beach. “This really hits home.”
Retired nonprofit manager Phil Beukem also came to pay his respects. “We take for granted that these guys are safe from danger up in the air, but they, too, are putting their lives at risk,” said theHuntington Beach resident.
Waitress Ari Espinoza, also of Huntington Beach, said, “I’m here because it’s important to show his family that the community cares.”
Huntington Beach couple Mike and Deanne Cerenak unfurled a flag as the vehicles drove by. Their son is a La Habra police officer.
“I worry about him every minute of every day, even though he’s perfectly capable,” said Mike Cerenak, a contractor.
The service, scheduled for 10 a.m., is not open to the public. The video of the service can be viewed on the City of Huntington Beach’s YouTube page, police said.
The pair were responding to a priority call of a disturbance in Newport Beach when the helicopter went down, police said. The Huntington Beach Police Department’s Air Support Unit serves Newport Beach and Costa Mesa under contracts with those cities.
The officers were pulled from the helicopter by civilians and emergency responders.
Vella spent 14 years with the Huntington Beach Police Department after four years with the Laguna Beach Police Department.
At the Honda Center, dozens of motorcycle officers and roughly 50 Huntington Beach PD black-and-whites escorted the fallen officer into the venue underneath a pair of American flags hanging on fire trucks.
Dozens of police vehicles from other departments, some as far away as Visalia, followed along.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more.
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