Union City Run Honors Memory of Fallen Police Officers

The 6th annual, Ricky 267 5K Run/Walk & Kids Fun Run honoring the memory of Union City’s fallen heroes was held on Saturday morning.  The event raises money in remembrance of the Union City police officers who lost their lives from 2016 through 2022; Officer Ricardo Fernandez, Lt. Mark Zeitounian, Officer John Kamel, Lt. Gregory Katseyeanis, Detective Alex Ruperto and Captain James D’Andrea.

The event was first held in 2017.  According to the event’s organizers, “These heroes served our community with the highest integrity and honorably represented the Union City Police Department. It is now our duty as a community to make sure it will never be forgotten the ultimate sacrifice these fine heroes made.”   

The run began and finished at Washington Park at the corner of 2nd Street and Palisade Avenue. 

The “Ricky: 267 5K Run/Walk and Kids Fun Run is supported by the PBA #8 and FOP in alliance with the Union City Police Department to honor these fallen heroes. Proceeds from the event go toward a scholarship for a Union City High School Senior pursuing a career in law enforcement in memory of these fallen heroes.

AWARDS:​ ​Prizes for overall 1st -2nd -3rd place male and female 5K finishers; and Kids Prizes.

• T-shirts were given to all pre-registered runners, with prizes for the 1st-2nd-3rd Male and Female finishers.          

• The top male finisher was Jersey City’s Jason Mercado with a time of 16 minutes, 43.95 seconds.  The top female runner was Hoboken’s Corinne Esposito with a time of 24 minutes, 12.89 seconds, beating out second place finisher Christine Diiorio by just under 10 seconds.