Officer Tull speaks of fallen friend - Philadelphia News

CENTER CITY - September 17, 2008 Officer Terry Tull's body is still battered and bruised. He walks with a cane. His broken ribs are still not healed, but the emotional scars are far more painful.

"The night itself goes through my mind like a tape in my head. It's going over and over. I don't know how or if I'll get over it," Officer Tull said.

The night was September 5.

Tull and his partner on the Narcotics Strike Force, Isabel Nazario, were responding to a pursuit in progress.

16-year-old Andre Butler allegedly slammed into them at a high rate of speed, turning their cruiser into a mangled piece of metal and trapping them inside.

"I remember hearing it and responding and as we were responding and expecting them to be coming across one way and never hearing that the chase has changed course and then they came right down on top of us," Officer Tull said.

After being freed by the jaws of life, Tull and Nazario were rushed to the hospital.

Nazario wouldn't make it.

Tull spent a week there, but was determined to make his partner's funeral. He arrived by ambulance

"I owed it to her. I was there with her that last minute. I should be there at her funeral to pay my last respects to my partner," Officer Tull said.

Officer Tull says the outpouring of support has been overwhelming.

Cards, flowers and balloons fill his home.

He says they've helped him during his time of grief.

"Someone is always giving me support everyday. Someone is always telling me how God has blessed me and it's all been helping to stay focused in dealing with the loss of my partner," Officer Tull said.

Officer Tull says his partner was a person full of love, always willing to make it right for others.

He wants her to always be remembered that way.


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