The two worlds of Norman Stamp came together Monday, as hundreds of motorcyclists and police officers gathered to mourn the veteran officer shot to death by a fellow cop last week.
“It?s a loss that everyone feels,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld said. “He helped and influenced many, many people.”
Stamp, 65, was shot to death during a fight outside the Haven Place club on North Haven Street in Southeast Baltimore.
During his funeral at Bruzdzinski Funeral Home in Essex, mourners recalled Stamp, a 44-year police veteran, as a “hero” and a “mentor” to many officers.
Baltimore police union Chaplain Don Helms called Stamp an excellent officer.
“He knew how to keep the crime down,” Helms said. “He was the kind of officer who demanded respect. He knew who the bad guys were. He knew who the good guys were. … You didn?t have to call 911. You waited for Norman to show up.”
Paul Blair, president of the Baltimore police union, said Stamp never disgraced his uniform.
“The police family will never forget Norm Stamp,” Blair said. “He will always be in our hearts.”
Biker friends remembered him just as fondly, but with a rougher edge: as a sometimes-crazy, always-fun, cigar-smoking, tough old bird.
“Anybody who knows Norman knows he could ride a motorcycle,” said Reds Sullivan, president of the Chosen Sons Motorcycle Club, which Stamp founded in 1969. “What a loss. What a loss.”
In an official account of Stamp?s death given Thursday, Bealefeld said officers responded shortly after midnight Wednesday to reports of a fight at a strip club. Officer John Torres tried to stop customers from leaving the bar during the fight in the parking lot, police said.
Torres confronted Stamp ? who was off duty ? when he left the bar wearing brass knuckles, Bealefeld said. When Stamp did not respond to Torres? commands, Torres used a Taser to knock Stamp to the ground, where Stamp drew his handgun, and Torres fired the fatal shot, Bealefeld said.
Stamp?s biker friends have questioned that account ? and two lawyers and a private investigator have launched an independent probe into the shooting.
The controversy was brought up only once at the funeral, when a member of a different bike club took the floor.
“Hopefully, with the help of the witnesses present that night, the truth will come out and clear the name of Norman P. Stamp,” said a man who identified himself only as “Ricko” of the National Alliance of Fat-Boys. Mourners burst into applause as the biker called the officer who shot Stamp a “Barney Fife,” a reference to a bumbling police officer on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
“The city owes him that,” the man said of clearing Stamp?s name. “Procedure wasn?t followed, but it wasn?t Norm that failed. He?d just gone out to break up a fight like we?ve seen him do so many times before.”
Stamp?s survivors include widow Suzanne, daughter Tanya Stamp, and sisters Connie Wetzel and Fran Luzerne.
