26233: Hermantin(News)He improved relations with city's Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun Sentinel

He improved relations with city's Haitians



By Ushma Patel
Staff Writer

September 11, 2005



A Delray Beach police officer who played a major role reaching out to the 
city's Haitian population and its teenagers was killed Saturday in an off-duty 
traffic accident.

Officer Jean "Johnny" Pun, 37, died early Saturday morning when his motorcycle 
and a pickup truck collided in West Palm Beach. Pun, co-founder of the Delray 
Youth Vocational Charter School, had been a Delray Beach police officer since 
1992 and had been recognized locally and nationally for his work in the 
community. He was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

Saturday afternoon, fellow officers, friends and family members' cars lined the 
streets of Pun's subdivision west of Lake Worth, where he shared his life with 
his wife, Marie, and their children Jahq, 8, Maya, 10, and Sahphiere, 18.

"He was very selfless. That's why people loved him so much," Marie Pun said. "I 
never worried about him [being] an officer. He did his job honestly. He treated 
everyone fairly."

Early Saturday, Johnny Pun was riding his Honda motorcycle east on Okeechobee 
Boulevard approaching Chillingsworth Drive. Maurepas Louis, 50, of Miami was 
driving west on Okeechobee in his Nissan pickup and made a U-turn into the 
eastbound lanes, according to police. Two witnesses said Louis crossed in front 
Pun's motorcycle, said West Palm Beach police spokesman Lt. Pat Maney.

Pun, who was wearing a helmet, died at the scene. Charges are pending against 
Louis, Maney said.

The fun-loving officer graduated from Palm Beach Community College's Criminal 
Justice Institute in 1992 and went to work in Delray Beach. Lt. Javaro Sims met 
him soon after, and the two had been close friends since.

They rarely talked about work, instead having friendly arguments about 
politics, cultural differences and sports. Just last weekend, Sims and his wife 
and the Puns went out to dinner.

"When he walked through the halls, you'd hear his voice, hear other people 
laughing. Just his overall presence is going to be missed," Sims said Saturday.

Pun, who was Haitian, worked to improve the Police Department's relations with 
Delray Beach's large Haitian population through community policing and helped 
organize a Haitian Citizens Police Academy and a Community Emergency Response 
Team program taught in Creole.

"The Delray Beach Police Department has suffered a terrible loss. ... Officer 
Pun, Johnny, was a treasured police officer who gave so much to his community," 
Delray Beach Police Chief Joseph Schroeder said in a written statement.

In 2002, after years of planning and looking for funding, Pun and Officer Fred 
Glass opened the charter school to reach out to teenage dropouts and criminals, 
help them get high school diplomas and certify them as auto mechanics.

"If not for the program, they wouldn't get a second chance offered to them," 
Sims said. "He's irreplaceable. There's not going to be another Johnny Pun to 
make the same impact in our city."

Surrounded by friends and her children on the back patio of their home, Marie 
Pun started to cry only when she spoke about her husband's work with the 
charter school.

"His students, the ones that came by, were so shaken up. They usually go to him 
in times of chaos," she said.

The Puns were married for almost 12 years, and his extended family is flying in 
from as far as Canada and Haiti for the funeral, which is scheduled for 
Saturday.

"He just didn't seem like the type of man that would die at this age," Jahq 
said.

Ushma Patel can be reached at upatel@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6621.


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