Patrick Kent Hardesty, 40, was a Tucson police officer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was killed on the evening of May 26, 2003. He had been a reserve officer with the Tucson Police Department for 11 years and a full-time officer for 19 months. Hardesty was investigating a hit-and-run near Fort Lowell Road and Park Avenue when he located a suspect; a struggle followed and he was shot five times. He was taken to a hospital but did not survive.

Responding officers apprehended the suspect, identified as John Montenegro Cruz, after a brief foot pursuit. Cruz was charged with Hardesty’s murder; a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on February 25, 2005, and he was sentenced to death on March 10, 2005. Hardesty is survived by his wife, three children, parents, and siblings.

Does anyone have memories of Officer Hardesty or information about the case from the time around May 2003?