Chicago police officer and 2006 Niles West alumnus John Bartholomew passed away in the line of duty on Saturday, April 25. Bartholomew is remembered fondly by his former teachers and coaches at West.

On the day of the accident, Bartholomew and his partner were transporting convicted felon Alphanso Talley to Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in Lincoln Square. When they removed Talley’s handcuffs for an MRI, Talley shot both officers. Bartholomew was killed on-site, and his partner was in critical condition.

Bartholomew’s legacy at West lives on, as he is honored by his former teachers. Social Studies teacher Matthew Wiemer taught Bartholomew in U.S. History in 2004-2005. This was Wiemer’s first year of teaching.

“He was an incredibly personable kid with a great sense of humor and was a lot of fun to have in class,” Wiemer said. “I used to call him Johnny B. Making a connection to a kid like John, my first year of teaching, made me realize I was picking the correct career path.”

Baseball coach and former gym teacher Garry Gustafson coached Bartholomew on the freshman football team and taught him in freshman gym in 2002.

“The one thing I remember about John vividly is he was a really good person, a good teammate and it seemed like he was well-liked by everybody, either in class or on the team,” Gustafson said. “He was just a good-spirited kid at the time. The kids gravitated towards him because he was such a good kid, a good person.”

Bartholomew worked for the Chicago police department’s 17th District for 10 years. West’s School Resource Officer Nick Larson commented on how police are instructed to handle those put under arrest.

“Anytime a complaint is made, and they want to go to the hospital, we have to take [the arrestee] to the hospital, because I’m not a doctor,” Larson said. “I can’t tell whether or not they are actually in pain or injured. So, [I] take him to the hospital. Sometimes it’s in the ambulance, sometimes it’s just in a squad car… Normally, they’re handcuffed, normally we search them, and then we bring them there.”

When news of the shooting came out, Bartholomew’s former teachers were crushed.

“When I heard a week after the shooting that he was the officer who was killed and that he was a Niles West graduate, I realized who he was immediately,” Wiemer said. “It was incredibly sad.”

Gustafson believes that Bartholomew made a great impression on his former football teammates and will be dearly missed.

“Just an absolute tragedy,” Gustafson said. “I don’t know what else you can, what word you could best describe other than just a tragedy. He was a guy that worked hard at what he did and [it’s] just a complete tragedy that shouldn’t have occurred.