COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio lawmakers have passed legislation that would rename a portion of Route 2 in Lake County after the Mentor police officer who lost his life there in 2018.
On Thursday, officials announced that HB 276 had passed both the Ohio House and Senate and will head to the desk of Gov. Mike DeWine. The legislation calls for the stretch of Route 2 eastbound and westbound between Routes 306 and 615 to become the Patrolman Mathew Mazany Memorial Highway.
Mazany was assisting another officer during a traffic stop on Route 2 on June 24, 2018, when 25-year-old Brian Anthony fatally struck him and drove off. Prosecutors said that blood and urine samples showed Anthony had heroin and ethanol in his system, along with morphine, codeine and fentanyl.
Anthony was later sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison.
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The bill was co-sponsored by State Representatives John Rogers and Jamie Callender, both from Lake County.
When a police officer or firefighter dies on the job, time stops momentarily for all of us— because that individual was engaged in sworn duties to protect and serve each of us,” said Rogers in a statement after the bill passed the House last June. “When an officer who falls is known personally and admired by many, as in the case of Mathew Mazany, both within his Department and the Lake County community, the nature of the loss is much more powerful and dramatic. Indeed, few words can be found to offer any consolation with the grief that follows. The naming of this segment of Rt. 2 in Mentor, where Officer Mazany was killed in June of 2018, will help to keep the memory of him and his sacrifice alive in our minds as we pass by for years to come.”
“It’s important that we never forget those who put their lives on the line each and every day to protect our community,” Callender added.
The Senate version of the bill was co-sponsored by Sens. John Eklund of Munson Township and Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights.