ST. LOUIS — A hushed crowd of hundreds stood outside the Cathedral Basilica of ºüÀêÊÓƵ on Friday morning as family, fellow officers, officials and friends said goodbye to Antonio Valentine.
Family and friends have since remembered Valentine, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ native, as a caring, diligent police officer who took great pride in his military service in the Army and later in the Air Force Reserve.
His background came into focus Friday as members of the military, as well as police officers from several departments, former police chiefs and elected officials stood outside the basilica under a cloud of fog that slowly lifted through the morning.
Just before 9 a.m., bagpipes and drums sounded as a procession of police vehicles appeared. Valentine’s family filed into the church followed by scores of officers donning black slashes over their badges.
About 1,500 people attended the service.
Chief Kenneth Gregory spoke to the mourners about Valentine’s heroism — his qualities as a strong leader who was brave, confident and inspirational.
Valentine’s friend, fellow ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Detective Columbus Love, said he was inspired by the man he lovingly called “V.â€
The two became friends while solving auto crimes. Love said even though he had felt burned out when he got the assignment, working with Valentine gave him a “second wind.â€
“We pushed each other to be great,†he said.
Valentine’s uncle, ºüÀêÊÓƵ police Sgt. Scott Valentine, spoke about his nephew’s love for his family and the promise Scott Valentine made that he would take care of his nephew’s four children if anything ever happened to him.
“He would often come to my house and we’d sit in my kitchen and he’d say ‘Make sure my children are taken care of,’†Scott Valentine said. “When I got that word on Dec. 1, that was all I could think of.â€
Valentine is survived by four children, ages 10 to 22. BackStoppers, an organization that offers financial help to families of officers killed on duty, has pledged to help support them.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police officers who have died in the line of duty since 1975
April 17, 1975: Detective Wayne Bradford McClelland
Detective Wayne McClelland was struck and killed by a drunken driver on I-55, near Green Park Road.
He had just pulled over a vehicle for a traffic violation and was returning to his patrol car when the drunk driver struck him. The driver fled the scene but was arrested a short time later and convicted of manslaughter.
McClelland was an Air Force veteran and had been with the department for 9 years.
April 30, 1977: Officer James R. Reifschneider
Officer James Reifschneider was struck and killed by a drunk driver while making a traffic stop on I-270. He was dragged 150 feet down the road, and the suspect fled.
He was standing by the driver's side door of a violator's vehicle. A drunk driver struck Reifschneider, 37, and dragged him down the roadway. The suspect fled the scene but was arrested in his vehicle, parked in front of his home.
Reifschneider had been with the department for 16 years. He had a wife and three children.
May 16, 1981: Officer Robert T. Jordan
Police Officer Robert Jordan was shot and killed when a suspect robbed him at gunpoint and discovered he was a police officer.
Jordan, 46, and his 11-year-old daughter were leaving a store on Shreve Avenue when the suspect demanded Jordan's wallet. The daughter testified at trial that Samuel McDonald shot her father in the chest.
McDonald was convicted of capital murder and executed by lethal injection in 1997.
Robert Jordan had been with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Police Department for 19 years. In addition to the daughter who testified at trial, Officer Jordan was survived by his wife and four other children.
Liscombe, 38, died three days later. She had been with the department for 16 years, starting as a dispatcher and becoming a police officer eight years later.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police launched the department's largest manhunt ever to find her killer. Dennis A. Blackman Jr., the son of a ºüÀêÊÓƵ police captain, was convicted of second-degree murder in Liscombe's killing. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Officer Willie Neal Jr. was shot and killed while making an undercover drug deal.
Neal, 29, was accidentally struck by a round fired by his partner. The man involved in the drug buy was charged with felony murder; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Neal was married and had two daughters when he died. He had been with the department for six years.
Dec 5. 1997: Officer Thomas G. Smith Jr.
Patrolman Thomas Smith, 23, was killed in December 1997 after being struck by a motorist while assisting at the scene of a previous crash.
He was standing next to a tow truck with the earlier accident victim when a van struck a patch of ice and slid into them. Smith and the earlier victim died on the scene. The driver of the van was taken into custody for suspicion of involuntary manslaughter.
The driver was acquitted at trial two years later.
Smith had been with the department for three years.
Oct. 31, 2000: Sgt. Richard Eric Weinhold
On Oct. 31, 2000, ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Police Sgt. Richard Eric Weinhold was shot and killed while attempting to evict a man from a residence.
Weinhold and several officers went to a home where a man was locked inside. The officers broke into the basement and headed up the stairs with Weinhold in the lead.
Thomas Meek was armed with a shotgun when he leaped around a corner at the top of the stairs and blasted a deer slug into Weinhold’s left shoulder. The round pierced his lungs and heart.
Weinhold died later that day. Meek was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and commited to a state institution.
Weinhold was 44 when he was killed.The year before, he had been named Missouri's Law Enforcement Instructor of the Year.Â
Last year, Weinhold's son, David, became a ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police officer. .
Officer Blake Snyder, 33, was answering a disturbance call before dawn on Thursday, Oct, 6, 2016, when he was shot to death by a teenager.
Snyder was shot in the chin and pronounced dead at a hospital. Police Chief Jon Belmar said, "It was an immediately fatal wound."
Police were dispatched to a home in Green Park in South County where Trenton Forster had been beating on a door. Snyder approached 18-year-old Forster, who by then was sitting in a parked car.
Snyder was shot "almost immediately," police said.
A backup police officer shot and seriously injured Forster.
In 2019, a jury found Forster guilty of murdering Snyder and attempting to shoot at Snyder’s partner, Officer John Becker. Forster was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Snyder was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their son, Malachi, who was 2 years old when his father was killed.Â
The Rev. Byron Watson encouraged mourners to take comfort in the fact that Antonio Valentine lived a faithful life.
Watson read passages from the Bible about eternal life and encouraged people to see the day’s events as an opportunity for “congratulations.â€
“Let us not focus on how Tony died,†Watson said. “Instead, let us focus on the awesome life of service that he gave, the love he shared with all of us, and the wonderful legacy of his four beautiful children.â€
Photos: ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police Detective Antonio Valentine buried
Measure honors ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Police Detective Antonio ‘Tony’ Valentine who was killed in a fatal crash in 2021.
Pallbearers move the casket of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police Detective Antonio Valentine to a hearse following his funeral held at the Cathedral Basilica on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. Valentine was killed in a head-on car crash on Dec. 1 in Bellefontaine Neighbors after drug unit detectives tried to stop a car that fled. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Victoria Valentine, 10, is comforted by her mother, Susan, as she watches the arrival of the casket of her father, ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police Detective Antonio Valentine, at his funeral held at the Cathedral Basilica on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. Valentine was killed in a head-on car crash on Dec. 1 in Bellefontaine Neighbors after drug unit detectives tried to stop a car that fled. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com