CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago police officers on Saturday kept their promise to care for the families of their fallen siblings while spreading a little Christmas cheer.
Santa and Mrs. Claus received a police escort as they delivered gifts to the families of fallen officers for this year’s Operation Santa, organized by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.
Officers and their friends and families helped Santa and Mrs. Claus deliver gifts and holiday cheer to the families of officers who were killed or seriously injured in the line of duty.
These deliveries meant a lot to agent Carlos Yanez Jr. and his young son. Yanez was injured in the same shooting that killed Officer Ella French in 2021.
“He’s so excited,” Yanez said Saturday of his son’s reaction. “I mean, for the last week and a half he’s been saying, ‘Santa Claus is coming with all the police officers,’ and in this quiet neighborhood, it’s amazing when you see all the police officers coming, and I’m sure the neighbors will say, ‘What’s going on?’
The operation will continue on Sunday. Starting at 11:15 a.m., police will escort Santa Claus to the home of fallen officer Eduardo Marmolejo and the home of his partner, officer Conrad Gray. The officers were struck and killed by a South Shore commuter train while investigating a shots fired call in December 2018.
Operation Santa also stopped at the home of fallen officer Joey Huerta. He was on duty in November 2021 when he tested positive for COVID-19. He was hospitalized and treated for bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia and succumbed to the disease just two days before Christmas.
This year the foundation gave Christmas gifts to 26 children from 20 different families.
This is the twentieth year that the Memorial Foundation has organized Operation Santa.
contributed to this report.
