The efforts to honor fallen Newman Police Cpl. Ronil Singh will come to fruition with a dedication of a portion of Highway 33 on Saturday following the Tunnel to Towers run/walk 5K.
The dedication ceremony will be held at the conclusion of the run/walk, around 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the plaza in downtown Newman.
Originally, a plan to rename a portion of the highway in Singh’s honor started in 2019, when the Assembly Transportation Committee approved a resolution for the Corporal Ronil Singh Memorial Highway that would encompass a stretch of Highway 33 in the Westside. But then bureaucracy and the pandemic came along, slowing the process down. In an effort to get the project back on track, Stanislaus County Supervisor Channce Condit reached out to State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil.
“All the credit on getting this project done goes to Senator Alvardo-Gil,” Condit said. “She took the idea and ran with it. Cpl. Singh left a legacy of sacrifice and public service that will endure. This will be something the entire community of Newman can be proud of.”
Joining Alvarado-Gil in the effort was Assemblyman Juan Alanis, who helped on the Assembly side and with letters of support.
“Cpl. Singh was a colleague of mine and it was a big blow to the entire law enforcement family when he was killed,” Alanis said. “It’s great that our community is coming together to pay our respects to him.”
The State approves the memorial sections but does not cover the costs associated with any memorial signs or plaques. That is where the advocacy group Blue Line Wives comes in. Blue Line Wives was founded in 2016 by Amanda Young after the death of a law enforcement member in her hometown. She said she saw a need to support the families behind the law enforcement community, both in times of tragedy and in times of joy. The organization took donations and sold memorial coins to help pay for the project.
Singh was born in Fiji and came to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer. Singh started his law enforcement career as a volunteer with the Modesto Police Department and then served as a cadet and animal service officer with the Turlock Police Department. He worked in Turlock from 2006 to 2010 and then joined the Merced County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy in 2010. He graduated Modesto Junior College in 2009 with a degree in criminal justice. Singh joined the Newman Police Department in 2011.
On Dec. 26, 2018, Singh was shot and killed during an early-morning traffic stop of a suspected drunken driver in Newman. Singh was survived by his wife Anamika and their young son, who was just 5-months-old at the time of his death.
The dedication will cap off the Tunnel to Towers run/walk 5K, which for the first time is being held during the Newman Fall Festival weekend. The Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk 5K will start at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Newman Police Department.
The event is hosted by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which was created in the memory of New York Firefighter Stephen Siller with the mission of assisting catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, fallen first responder families, and Gold Star families.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Siller had completed his shift with Brooklyn Squad 1 when he heard news of an airplane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Siller returned to Squad 1 to gather his gear and drove to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, only to find it had been closed. With his 60 pounds of gear in tow, Siller ran from the tunnel to the Twin Towers where he lost his life. He was 34 years old and left behind his wife and five children.
During the last Sunday of each September a Tunnel to Towers run is held in New York City that follows the same path as that taken by Siller on Sept. 11. Proceeds from the run benefit the families of injured or fallen veterans and first responders.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has previously assisted Singh’s family by paying off his mortgage. The Newman Police Department has so far raised more than $7,000 for the organization this year, said Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson.
