RACINE — Several wives of Racine Police officers posted to Facebook, asking for donations to drop off food. What happened next overwhelmed them.
“We reached out to several businesses to see if they would donate just to have some food crying available for our guys and gals that serve our community,” said Brittany Bodnar, wife of a Racine Police Officer.
Bodnar and Rachel Contreras were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support. Perfect strangers donated gift cards and free food to a police station in mourning.
“It’s just really hard My husband said when he Got home at 3:30 in the morning and said, he was such a great cop” said Bodnar.
“Something like this hits home really hard. John trained my husband so he spent a lot of time with him it’s really sad,” said Contreras.
The women are thankful the community is paying their respects to an officer who leaves behind two children.
“Every day we say goodbye to our husbands they go to work and it’s always scary because you ever know what’s going to happen,” said Contreras.
Officer Hetland was a field training officer and member of the Racine FBI task force.
The wives remember how much he supported his fellow officers in the police union.
”He said there was almost no one that advocated like he did you always knew he had your back,” said Bodnar.
Officer Hetland was a few months shy from retirement.
