26252: Hermantin(news)Delray officer's legacy: Helping those in trouble (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun-Sentinel


By Leon Fooksman
Staff Writer

September 14, 2005



When Marques Johnson saw a Delray Beach police officer approaching him on a 
known drug corner, he braced for a night behind bars.

Instead, the 17-year-old got a pep talk.

"He made me feel like I could do something for myself," Johnson said of his 
first exchange with Jean-Albert "Johnny" Pun.

It was Pun who later persuaded the youth to ditch the street life for a career 
in auto mechanics.

"He didn't try to arrest you or doubt you," Johnson said.

Pun, 37, died Saturday morning in a traffic accident, leaving a legacy of 
trying to straighten out drug dealers, car thieves, vandals and 
purse-snatchers, often simply by listening to their troubles.

His death sent shock through the Delray Beach neighborhoods he patrolled since 
1992, from the Haitian enclaves where he worked to break up gangs to the Delray 
Youth Vocational Charter School that he co-founded to give high school dropouts 
another chance to complete school.

He was a fixture in the toughest housing developments, often appearing like a 
street minister as he handed out business cards and offered motivational 
pitches to youths he doggedly pursued for his school.

Pun was killed when his motorcycle and the driver of a pickup truck collided in 
West Palm Beach. Pun was heading east on Okeechobee Boulevard as Maurepas 
Louis, 50, of Miami drove west on Okeechobee. Louis made a U-turn into the 
eastbound lanes and witnesses told police he crossed in front of Pun's 
motorcycle, police said.

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

For dozens of students and the mostly Haitian teenagers Pun helped transform, 
it was his sincerity and easygoing demeanor that many said inspired them.

"You can change your life around," Johnson said, recalling what Pun told him 
several months ago when the youth showed up at Pun's school after getting 
charged with drug possession. Those simple words, Johnson said, motivated him 
to enlist in the school and seek legitimate work.

Pun was no pushover, students said.

When Luiggi Cusati, 17, a high school dropout, came late for the charter school 
last year and didn't take his studies seriously, Pun demanded that he do 
push-ups. Upset, Cusati dropped out and worked in construction until hurting 
his back. He decided to give the school another try after Pun called him this 
summer.

"He was really tough on me. But what I think he was doing was pushing me and 
getting me motivated," Cusati said.

The officer and police administrators got the idea for the school after the 
department investigated a series of car thefts, break-ins and burglaries in the 
Linton Boulevard area involving mostly a group of teenagers living in the 
neighborhood surrounding Sterling Avenue. They reasoned that if they founded a 
school geared toward young delinquents and their penchant for cars, they could 
reduce crime.

Last year, all 24 of the school's students improved their reading skills by a 
minimum of two grade levels and demonstrated the minimum skills needed to work 
in the auto industry, according to the school. All the graduates found jobs and 
90 percent stayed out of jail.

Pun spent most of his working days at the school, where he was assigned by the 
police department, helping with recruiting, preventing fights and acting as a 
role model and social worker to the students, said Frank Little, the school's 
principal and director. He found apartments for the neediest students and 
showed up in court to speak in their defense. He got a local plastic surgeon to 
donate his time in removing a student's gang tattoos.

"These students are going to be his legacy," Little said.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.


Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel