Walter In Denver

Your story leaves out one of the most important facts in the case. The city of Bethlehem is only insured for $500,000, anything over which will come directly out of the taxpayer's pockets. Maybe a bigger tax bite will be a political incentive for better police oversight.

I've got a better lesson to be learned. Don't deal drugs, or you get shot and burned. Screw him, and his fiancee.

Geoffrey,

In our country, we fought a number of wars to insure that we wouldn't ever have to live under that kind of regime. Summary executions without trial is not acceptable here. Nor is punishment that doesn't fit the crime. Nor are a host of other government activities related to the war on drugs.

I understand Singapore is nice this time of year... You can attend the regular Friday executions of drug dealers there.

Geoffrey--here's a better idea for you. Let's do away with outdated, draconian drug laws. That would solve the problem, too.

There's always one self-righteous drug war zealot wanting to use Saddam Hussein style justice tactics in every crowd. "We could win the war on drugs if we killed em all." Sure, and we could eliminate speeding by shooting rocket propelled grenades at speeders instead giving them a ticket.

I've got a better lesson to be learned. Don't be a moronic gun-nut f---tard, or you get your town suited for a billion dollars. Screw him, and his p---hole town.
(Edited for cusswords. This is a family blog. -W.)

hey geoffrey, maybe you are right about the drug dealing, but for you to say screw him and his fiancee is ridiculous. how would like to sit there and helplessly watch your loved one be gunned down by a mass of pricks that are trigger happy. and you know, that is one thing, but to leave him there to burn and then not help his fiancee at all. WHAT THE HELL is wrong with people. that is justice??? i dont agree one bit with the drug dealing, but i know something about this case and you are a moron!!! a complete whacko for saying that. obviously you are a saint and never have done anything in your life wrong. idiot.

First of all, Bethlehem Police Officers should not be punished for trying to keep the Bethlehem residents and the streets of Bethlehem safe. If Mr. Hirko Jr. had not been dealing drugs, the Bethlehem Police Department would not have had to react and this whole situation would not have taken place.
Let's face it, who is really at fault here?
If the City of Bethlehem has to pay money to these surviving relatives of Drug Dealers, what kind of message are we sending?
I know that house at 629 Christian St very well, I grew up in that house from the time I was 3 until I was 20 and my parents sold the house to Mr. Hoang.
As for Mr. Hoang being fined for "not cleaning the house up", he never took care of that house from day 1 when he bought it. My mom and I drove by several times to look at the house when we went to the Holy Ghost Cemetery (across the street) to put flowers on relatives graves way before any of this happened and the place was a mess!
The grass was over 1 foot high, the shrubs and trees were never trimmed and growing out onto the front sidewalk and no improvements were ever made to the garage which was falling apart. I am surprised he was never fined before!
I have run into several residents over the years who still live in the neighborhood and all they did was complain about the how the property looked and they miss the way we used to keep everything neat.
As for Miss Fodi, I personally know several of the officers and the only way they would not have helped her is if they couldn't get to her.
Nobody knows the real story except for the people who were there that night on April 23, 1997, but do you feel it is right to pay $1 Billion dollars to a drug dealer's family who couldn't raise their child to be a decent citizen? We are rewarding them for their son (who pushed drugs) committing a crime. Yeah, I really think they deserve the money...not!
The moral of the story is... commit a crime...do the time...play with fire...you get burned.

"previous resident" - interesting that you are the wife of the police officer who used to live at 629 Christian Street and the guy who drew the diagram for the raid to go and kill John Hirko!
Such credibility. You and Baghadad Bob have lots in common.

Dear Mr. Jenkins,
Maybe you should research the facts a little better before posting your comments. I am not the wife of the police officer who used to live at 629 Christian St., I am his daughter and I do know a little more about the situation than you do.

Whether it is Satan or his offspring, either way, the roots grow the same sour lemons.
Excellent to know though. At least now there is absolute confirmation and no doubt of your bias.
It will be wonderful to watch the guilty verdict -it is only a matter of time...and one long overdue. Bob

Dear Bob,
Sounds like you have some personal issues you need to deal with. It is true that my biological father is a police officer, however, I don't have much contact with him since my mom raised me on her own.
I don't recall anything in the news about my father "drawing a diagram for the raid" I don't even believe my father was there when the raid went down. Anyway, I appreciate your opinion as I have voiced mine.
As for calling me Satan's offspring, you don't even know me, so does that go for the children of all police officers? What makes you such an expert on genealogy anyway?

i have been reading about this in the news. i am a former police officer and know all about the unwritten code of silence. all i can say is if i were any one of those officers, i would be extremely nervous because when the plaintiffs win, it will re-open the case and begin a homicide investigation - and any of those guys can end up prosecuted for murder. as a former officer, i know that when things go bad, we end up on the other side of the law and suddenly it hits us what we did was wrong. at some point their unity will have to break because no one wants to end up in jail for life for the mistake of one lunatic.

What was done to John Hirko is sick. The Bethlehem Police better re-evaluate their offices. This was just a matter of time. And what ever happend w/shooting to detain not to kill? one shot in the leg may have worked...not 11 in the back. To all Bethlehem residents...Beware of fine friends in blue~You may be next!

What happen to John Hirko was a travesty. I knew john personally...he did not deserve that...noone does.
If your daughter was selling drugs you would find it just to shoot her 11 times in the back and leave her body to burn in a fire started by the police. There is so much information you idiots don't know....get the facts before speaking!!
You people make me sick...absolutely sick!!!!!!

This hurts me that so many of you people would stick up for a man who RUINED so many lives! I was not there on the night of the raid so I cannont and will not make a statement on what may or may not have happened. What I will say is that this man dealt drugs. Its well known. Marajuana, cocaine, heroine. I think all the families of the people who's lives he's ruined with drugs should sue HIS family for not bringing him up right!!

interesting...i'd like a list of the peoples' lives he's ruined if you don't mind. i'm just curious. cause the last time i checked you didn't have to force drugs on a junkie. they have the uncanny ability to ruin things just fine by themselves.

i got news for you- people use drugs because they CHOOSE to. that's on them.

and p.s.- it's also well known that john r. neison iv sold drugs. marijuana, cocaine, heroin. but i guess that's ok cause he's the informant. so maybe we should sue his family too? i'm quite confident he's ruined his fair share of lives.

or would 11 shots to the back be more appropriate?

Personallyhurt, I'd love to know who you are, since you probably know me too.

GiA, you're so right, since I also know all that about Neison as well. I'm sorry, but even as bad off as I was when all this happened, I never blamed my problems on anyone else, not then, not now, not ever. Hirko never ruined anyone's life, except perhaps his own. People make choices, and they have to live with the results. You may say that Hirko did the same by choosing to sell drugs, but if Hirko's house had been raided by cops who did NOT have a Rambo complex, he might be in jail right now, probably he'd be free at this point, not 6 feet underground. Had execution been the known result of selling drugs, I doubt anyone would ever make it, including Hirko and Neison too!

Luckily for me, by chance I was not there that night, otherwise, I'd probably be dead too. The police were grossly negligent to take this informant's word for what was going on in there. Aside from the fact that a good deal of what he has stated is out and out lies, he certainly had his own agenda, protecting his own drug sales at moravian, of which I also have first hand knowledge. if the cops were doing their jobs, they'd have taken a good look at their informant before busting in a door and shooting an unarmed man 11 times in the BACK!

Hirko got what he deserved... Breaking the law can cause you harm. Lord forbid any of you idiots in Denver could ever forgive a man if a shootout over drugs takes place and you are a innocent victim and you get hurt or a child gets shot. Then all of you would be saying something had to be done....

Verdict is in.
BEEP BEEP.
Justice Prevails.
sorry about your luck!
Karma sucks eh....

hey bethlehem resident, looks like bpd got what they deserved as well. verdict is in: guilty

let me quote you "breaking the law can cause you harm"

is everyone in this country niave? if the goverment wanted to stop drugs in this country,they could.they found 2 lbs of conteminated grapes on a ship carring 50 tons of grapes.there are people in very high places making ALOT of money on drugs.they will never let up. Just look at the drugs for guns of the 1980's. During the investigation every one had amnesia.if people want to stop drugs in this country look in your own homes your own communities, and take away the need for escape. Add the spirit to to live!!!!!!

"Personallyhurt, I'd love to know who you are, since you probably know me too."

I don't believe I would even want to know you considering you stick up for criminals.

If he hadn't been selling drugs the raid wouldn't have taken place and he'd still be alive. Maybe even happily married to Fodi.

I will agree with you on one thing though. 11 shots was too many. If they had only shot him three times this suit would never have taken place. The outcome would be the same though. One less drug dealer.

John Hirko had been a friend of my family since he and my cousin became friends in second grade. When they got older he convinced my cousin and their friends to try the drugs. They all got hooked. This completely tore my family apart. I haven't seen my cousin in over five years because he feels that if he comes back to PA he might hook up with some of his former junkie friends and start using again. I'm sorry if you think its wrong for me to hold a grudge against a man who ripped my family apart. I will not, however, change my opinion.

To each their own.

Hirko Settlement reached: $8M announcement set for
toady 3/22/04 this is a tentative settlement but in my opinion a fair settlement. what was done was wrong and indeed there was a cover up by the police officers involved. maybe now the familys can move on w there lives

"When they got older he convinced my cousin and their friends to try the drugs. They all got hooked."
Ok, obviously you did not know John as well as you think you did. John and I were very close at one point, before he met Fodi. When John and I were together he was a straight edge. He didn't even drink or smoke cigarettes. We were together for a few years, and HE convinced ME to stop smoking cigarettes. I don't know how he started doing drugs, but I know that toward the end of our relationship he bagan experimenting. That is why I stopped seeing him. He was going through something that he had to go through himself, and if you knew John, you know that no one could make his decisions or fight his battles for him. Then he met Fodi. She became his crutch because instead of helping him get clean, she got high with him. But they were both getting better. He was getting treatment, and getting his life together. Everyone who knew him the way I did knew that it was a phase, and he would get over it and clean up soon enough. He made mistakes, but who doesn't? He was a kid. A bright, educated kid, who usually had a good head on his shoulders, but made some bad choices. He was in the process of turning his life around when his life was taken from him by masked, trigger happy rouge cops, with insufficient training. John NEVER pushed drugs on ANYONE. John made his own decisions, just like you're cousin made his. Don't blame your cousin's addictions on anyone but your cousin.

Is selling drugs bad? yeah. so, lets just shoot everyone who ever sold, or used a drug in any way 11 or so times. that sounds about right.
i visit johns grave just about once a month. and cry every single time. im happy that the families of the officers who shot and killed and nearly creamated john feel just in this. in fact, we should maybe just set them loose in the high school i teach at, so that we can just kill ALL the drug dealers - you know, get em while they're young. right? then we'll set the school on fire and let them burn...and if some kids just have to jump out of the window, then good....you know we'll just tell their famililes that "we couldnt get to them"
i had known john since i was 16 years old, and he didnt even like cigarette smoke. we used to hang out in his room and paint Tide on his walls to be able to watch it glow, or watch Rocky IV, or play cards....we were goofy...it was fun. John would have done anything for me or any other one of his friends. i guess whn you read about the case you just think of who you want to make him out to be without knowing him or his gorgeous wonderful sister...how you've now ruined her life as well. i cant change your opinions...you come to your conclusions on your own. but lets face it. we all know that many of the officers PROBABLY shouldnt have used the flash bang device - well, without training at least, and sommmme of the officers MAY have had a little bit of a record for being umm, "gung ho" in the wrong situations, ie. pulling the wrong suspect out of a car, an elderly man, and beating him bloody then, realizing, whoops, wrong guy...i guess thats just the way the cookie crumbles, huh? i swear to God I hope that a tragedy like this never hurts anyone, because i spent the last 2 years in college speaking to counslers, envisioning John, hugging him...dreaming of him, and talking to him....crying next to him. its painful, and never deserved.

Everyone has their own opinion but it is sad that some of those opinions take the human factor out of the story. Is it a great thing to be a drug dealer, well no. But i can personally attest to the fact that no one "makes" someone do drugs. For years John never touched anything. He would give me so much shit in highschool when I would drink. Then things changed. John sold drugs to people who were already doing drugs, our friends who were using, he was not standing on a corner or in a school yard pushing. It doesn't make it right or legal but I can attest to the fact that when you are a junkie you are getting drugs, period. No one who bought from him was not buying other places as well. He had a problem and unfortunatly he never got the chance to get the help he needed to get better. I know that eventually he would have. It took me a long time and hard work to become someone you would never have believed lived that kind of a life. When I look at his pictures (the one used everywhere of him is from our prom picture) all I see is this great guy who had so much life to live and had this personality that people just wanted to be around him. I am so happy that justice has been served. I hope some degree of closure can finally come for Kristen, his sister and his mother.

John is definately someone no one will ever forget. He had this magnetic personality. He drew people to him, and those who were drawn in were stuck there in amazement- fascinated by his presence, his energy, and his incredible charm.. I never knew a woman who could resist his charm... I admired him most for his intelect and confidence. He never followed the crowd. He made decisions based on his own views, no one else's. Although our relationship was not good, I couldn't stay away from him. I was infatuated with him. (As many women were.) It was so sad to hear of his addiction and deteriorization through friends. I could only imagine what could have happened in his life to send him spiraling down... Kri, did he ever show you his hands?

Hi 'frind of hirko' and 'kri', have you seen the page by 'angry sister'? If not, take a look and send her your love.

http://mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/November.7.1998.14.23.49

angry sister's page...

Whom ever is posting these sick, disgusting ads on this page is a PIG! Have some respect and leave this page for people who are interested in discussing the issue. John is probably rolling over in his grave right now from the disrespect from you people!