Aurora police chaplain honored for service
The Aurora Police Department’s senior chaplain is a black belt-trained owner of a drag racing car who once coached basketball and tennis.
And now he’s got his own “Super Bowl ring” to top it all off.
The Rev. Jerome “Father Jerry” Leake, received his “Super Bowl ring” — actually the same type of ring given to Aurora police personnel when they retire — at an award ceremony in late March as a token of appreciation for his 38 years of service to the department and its employees.
Officers who have taken him along during ridealongs say Leake, 68, has the physical prowess to chase down suspects, and his presence in priestly garb and an Aurora police jacket changes the dynamic of tense situations.
“It’s amazing to be on a call with him and see people’s reactions,” said officer Ted Hunt, who organized the ceremony, held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Aurora’s near east side, where Leake is pastor. “You can tell the Catholics — they bow their heads.”
But Leake’s presence in an Aurora police car the night of Dec. 26 couldn’t change the fact there was ice on the road. It couldn’t stop the marked car, driven by a 26-year-old officer, from fishtailing. Couldn’t move the tree in the car’s path and couldn’t stop the impact.
The crash left him with a broken pelvis, several broken ribs and a concussion.
Leake remembers the fishtailing, then waking up in the car, waiting for emergency response crews to remove its roof and free him from the wreck. He remembers briefly coming to at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, then again at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. He knows he was at Loyola for five or six days, but his memory — especially of the first two days — is fuzzy.
Loyola hospital staff were overwhelmed by the number of visitors coming to see Leake and the amount of callers asking about his status, Hunt said.
“They were limiting visitors to family only, and he told them the police officers are his family,” Hunt said. “We feel the same way about him and we wanted to let him know.”
The award ceremony and ring presentation allowed officers to show their gratitude and the family-like closeness they feel with their senior chaplain before he retires, Hunt added.
The bond with Leake dates back to high school for officer Michael Nilles, who learned from Leake during one of the priest’s 24 years teaching at Aurora Central Catholic High School.
“Monday morning was my favorite day of the week because he used to come in and tell us stories about how he was riding along with the police officers over the weekend, and I use to be mesmerized,” Nilles said. “I used to sit there with my mouth open just listening to his stories.”
Leake said his favorite tales describe times he was able to help someone.
“I remember one night talking for about two-and-a-half hours to a man who was sitting in a car with a gun at his head, just worried about how that was going to turn out,” Leake said. “It turned out fine. He decided to put the gun down.”
Joining second-shift police officers on weekends, Leake sees his ridealongs as a “twofold ministry.”
“First to the officers themselves and some of the things they have to go through and deal with. I think by riding with them you build up a trust level that you can talk about situations in your life — on the job or off the job,” he said. “And the other ministry is just to the people of the city of Aurora, in all kinds of different situations, from a death notification, to domestic violence situations to whatever it might be.”
Leake said he recently graduated from his outpatient rehabilitation regimen and is back to leading church services for St. Joseph’s 800 parishioners. He hopes to begin his weekend ridealongs anew by Easter weekend.
Aurora officers leave no doubt he’ll be welcomed right back.
“He’s our brother. He’s our father. He’s our friend, and he’ll always be a member of the police department,” Nilles said. “There’s no question about it.”