Hero remembered with brushstrokes on canvas

Capturing the life of a Fallen Angel

Andrew S. Garib, METRO New York | PDF | Flatlands. In his portrait, Detective Dillon Stewart is in plain clothes, surrounded by his family. "He was the father of two," said Jodi Reznik of the 35-year-old policeman who was shot and killed Nov. 28, 2005, by Allan Cameron during a traffic stop. She created the portrait as a part of her Fallen Angel Project, which memorializes police officers who died in the line of duty.

Yesterday, Reznik presented the portrait to Stewart’s wife, Leslyn, and his two daughters, Samantha, 9, and Alexis, 2, also in the painting, at Reznik’s Brooklyn studio. ’One of them was a baby sitting on his lap with no front teeth. I have five daughters. As a parent, as a wife, this just moved me." Reznik’s project was inspired by the death of Russell Timoshenko, the 23-year-old officer who was shot dead in July 2007 after pulling over a stolen BMW. She painted Timoshenko’s portrait and presented it to his family in January. "I don’t even know how we can express enough respect and gratitude and admiration" for the men and women in blue, she said. Leslyn Stewart said the portrait captured "the life that Dillon lived, and the life that we shared together." She doesn’t yet know exactly where the portrait will hang, but says it will feature prominently in her family’s Long Island home. "It’s just a great thing," she said. End.

The front-page lead, written by editor Mark Bulliet and myself, read like this: Jodi Reznik’s project is to paint cops—the ones we’ve lost. She gave her Portrait of "fallen angel" Detective Dillon Stewart—killed senselessly in 2005 during a traffic stop—to his family yesterday. ’I just couldn’t come to terms" with Stewart’s tragedy, said Reznik from her East 17th Street andAvenue M studio. The oil painter hopes to paint as many fallen heroes as she can, and she’s already finished her third—Officer Francis Hennessy, who collapsed and died from a brain aneurysm while responding to a gun call in Brooklyn.

Published 08.05.29 02:00:00 -0500 GMT | Posted by Andrew Garib on 08.05.29 | |