South Bend Police Department hosts Fallen Officer Scholarship Ride

SOUTH BEND, Ind.- For the first time since 2019, the South Bend Police Department hosted their Fallen Officer Scholarship Ride.   

The Fallen Officer Scholarship Ride was created as a way for officer’s children to go to college while honoring the officers who lost their lives.   

The event started at 1:00 p.m. at the South Bend Police Department. The police escorted ride was 622 miles with stops along the route.   

The ride lasted around three hours ending at the FOP Grounds on SR-23 for the Corn and Sausage Roast that began at 4:00 p.m.   

FOP member Dominick Rodriquez hoped to see a big gathering this year.  

“It’s a great opportunity. You get to meet and mingle with new people, people you don’t necessarily think you’ll meet in your life, especially with bike riding. It's a very big community and a very prominent thing in our area. And it just gives you a chance to give back to individuals that want to go to college for a scholarship. It's something nice to be a part of in our South Bend Michiana area,” Rodriquez said.   

This year's scholarship ride honored fallen officer, Scott Severns who passed away on April 23, 2006. Rodriquez says it’s another way to keep his legacy alive.    

“Each year we’ll be honoring a different officer. Next year it’ll be a different officer and after that it’ll be another officer. That way we can always keep remembering our fallen brothers from our department as well as around the world,” Rodriquez said.