A RPD officer's ode to four officers who killed Tyisha Miller in poetic verse

by Rick Wheeler Saturday, Apr. 21, 2001 at 8:21 AM

Dedicated to Paul Bugar, Daniel Hotard, Wayne Stewart, and Michael Alagna, fired after shooting Tyisha Miller in Dec. 1998. Like the majority of the officers of this department, who shaved their heads enmasse to protest the firings, Wheeler views the officers who killed a black woman and celebrated it, as heroes while those who protested against her death are the "racist horde." Even with a state consent decree, the police culture of Riverside's finest still lives on....


A noble profession, to which children will aspire, is being beaten and trampled, thrown on political pyre.

As the "Cops" of the present and those gone before, we must sit back and watch an act, that we all furiously deplore.

A Sacrifice is being made, to appease those who cry "Race!", While the soldiers for peace are scorned and they spit in our face.

These four men of honor, integrity and dedication , Must now suffer exile, destruction and alienation.

BUT...I SWEAR TO YOU, those who abandon my brother, They will not stand alone on this day, now or any other.

For they Sacrificed their lives on untold occasions, and never once asked for praise, fame or adulation.

These four men and the thousands more, who serve their fellow man, Do their best to fulfill the expectations, of an often ungrateful land.

So I ask you, ¡¥Joe Citizen', step forward and say "Not anymore!"

"I will not be silent or quiet before the racist horde!"

"I will stand side by side with those who stood up for me," "Those who gave me strength and helped keep my city free"

If you love truth and justice, don't let them crush four heros in Blue, Or when you need them the most, your hero might be Sacrificed too.

Officer R. Wheeler
Riverside P.D. (6/14/99)