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26233: Hermantin(News)He improved relations with city's Haitians (fwd)




From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun Sentinel

He improved relations with city's Haitians



By Ushma Patel
Staff Writer

September 11, 2005



A Delray Beach police officer who played a major role reaching out to the city's Haitian population and its teenagers was killed Saturday in an off-duty traffic accident.

Officer Jean "Johnny" Pun, 37, died early Saturday morning when his motorcycle and a pickup truck collided in West Palm Beach. Pun, co-founder of the Delray Youth Vocational Charter School, had been a Delray Beach police officer since 1992 and had been recognized locally and nationally for his work in the community. He was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

Saturday afternoon, fellow officers, friends and family members' cars lined the streets of Pun's subdivision west of Lake Worth, where he shared his life with his wife, Marie, and their children Jahq, 8, Maya, 10, and Sahphiere, 18.

"He was very selfless. That's why people loved him so much," Marie Pun said. "I never worried about him [being] an officer. He did his job honestly. He treated everyone fairly."

Early Saturday, Johnny Pun was riding his Honda motorcycle east on Okeechobee Boulevard approaching Chillingsworth Drive. Maurepas Louis, 50, of Miami was driving west on Okeechobee in his Nissan pickup and made a U-turn into the eastbound lanes, according to police. Two witnesses said Louis crossed in front Pun's motorcycle, said West Palm Beach police spokesman Lt. Pat Maney.

Pun, who was wearing a helmet, died at the scene. Charges are pending against Louis, Maney said.

The fun-loving officer graduated from Palm Beach Community College's Criminal Justice Institute in 1992 and went to work in Delray Beach. Lt. Javaro Sims met him soon after, and the two had been close friends since.

They rarely talked about work, instead having friendly arguments about politics, cultural differences and sports. Just last weekend, Sims and his wife and the Puns went out to dinner.

"When he walked through the halls, you'd hear his voice, hear other people laughing. Just his overall presence is going to be missed," Sims said Saturday.

Pun, who was Haitian, worked to improve the Police Department's relations with Delray Beach's large Haitian population through community policing and helped organize a Haitian Citizens Police Academy and a Community Emergency Response Team program taught in Creole.

"The Delray Beach Police Department has suffered a terrible loss. ... Officer Pun, Johnny, was a treasured police officer who gave so much to his community," Delray Beach Police Chief Joseph Schroeder said in a written statement.

In 2002, after years of planning and looking for funding, Pun and Officer Fred Glass opened the charter school to reach out to teenage dropouts and criminals, help them get high school diplomas and certify them as auto mechanics.

"If not for the program, they wouldn't get a second chance offered to them," Sims said. "He's irreplaceable. There's not going to be another Johnny Pun to make the same impact in our city."

Surrounded by friends and her children on the back patio of their home, Marie Pun started to cry only when she spoke about her husband's work with the charter school.

"His students, the ones that came by, were so shaken up. They usually go to him in times of chaos," she said.

The Puns were married for almost 12 years, and his extended family is flying in from as far as Canada and Haiti for the funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday.

"He just didn't seem like the type of man that would die at this age," Jahq said.

Ushma Patel can be reached at upatel@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6621.


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