Roughly 400 motorcycles lined Lakeside Avenue and West 3rd Street in downtown Cleveland Saturday morning as riders gathered for the 18th Annual COPS Ride, a police-escorted procession honoring officers who died in the line of duty. The ride kicked off at 8:30 a.m. from the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial, with police officers riding motorbikes as they escorted the procession through the greater Cleveland area.
According to FOX 8 Cleveland WJW, the opening ceremony featured multiple speakers before the processional pushed off, including Mike Failing, who spoke on behalf of fallen Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner. The memorial itself, dedicated on May 14, 1993, sits at Huntington Park, a site at West Third Street and Lakeside Avenue, according to Case Western Reserve University. Its black granite monuments bear the names of local peace officers who have died in the line of duty since 1853.
Four Officers Lost in 2025
This year's ride carried added weight, honoring four Ohio officers who died in 2025: Trooper Nicholas P. Cayton of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Officer Phillip C. Wagner of the Lorain Police Department, Deputy Sheriff Daniel Weston Sherrer of the Morrow County Sheriff's Office, and Special Deputy Sheriff Larry Henderson Jr. of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, per the station's report. Wagner, a 35-year-old veteran, was shot and killed in an ambush while eating lunch in his patrol car, and was posthumously awarded the Lorain Police Department's Purple Heart and Medal of Honor during a memorial last year at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, according to CBS News.
Henderson, a 33-year Hamilton County Sheriff's Office veteran and fellow Marine Corps veteran who served on the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office dive team and bomb squad and worked with an FBI task force, was fatally struck by a vehicle on May 2, 2025, while directing commencement traffic at the University of Cincinnati, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials formally dedicated “Deputy Larry Henderson Jr. Way” this past May at the intersection where he was killed, at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Burnet Woods Drive, as reported by WVXU.
A Domestic Call and a Highway Crash
Deputy Sherrer was killed on Memorial Day 2025 while responding to a domestic disturbance call in Marengo, while serving with the Morrow County Sheriff's Office. His shooter was sentenced this past May to life in prison without parole, according to 10TV WBNS.
Trooper Cayton died on October 16, 2025, when his cruiser was struck by a semi-truck on State Route 11 in Mahoning County. In May, the Ohio Senate unanimously passed legislation designating a portion of that highway as the “Trooper Nicholas P. Cayton Memorial Highway,” according to the Ohio Senate. The article also references Ohio roadway safety.
Marking 25 Years Since September 11
The ceremony also commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed 72 New York police and Port Authority officers when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, per Fox 8. The ceremony also recognized the continuing impact of the attacks on first responders.
After the opening ceremony, police escorted the processional ride through Cuyahoga Heights and Valley View, part of a route through the greater Cleveland area, according to the Village of Moreland Hills, which noted the dealership served as a primary sponsor of the event.
Where the Money Goes
Net proceeds from the event's $30-per-rider registration fee are split between the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial Society and Ohio C.O.P.S. (Concerns of Police Survivors). The memorial has also served as a backdrop for other regional law enforcement milestones.
Wagner's death last summer also prompted a wave of community support across Lorain County, including a tattoo fundraiser in Elyria that raised more than $5,600 for the families of ambushed officers. Saturday's ride added another chapter to that ongoing show of support, bringing together riders, officers, and survivor families under one banner in downtown Cleveland.
