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Slain Wildlife Officer Remembered
Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST NEWS
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision officer Kat Kelley removes leaves from a momument dedicated Monday to her friend and colleague Margaret "Peggy" Park. Park was killed on a trail near the roadside marker in the Brooker Creek Preserve 23 years ago.
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Published: October 8, 2007
EAST LAKE-PALM HARBOR FL - EAST LAKE-PALM HARBOR FL - It was the night of Dec. 13, 1984, when Margaret "Peggy" Park, a 26-year-old Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission officer, came across two suspicious characters while patrolling in a remote area of the Brooker Creek Preserve.
The confrontation ended with a badly beaten Park taking a fatal shot to the back of her head from her .357-Magnum service revolver.
The convicted trigger man in the Park murder, Martin Edward Grossman, who was 19 at the time Park was slain, is still on Florida's death row. His 17-year-old accomplice, who confessed, was released from prison after serving less than three years of a seven-year sentence.
On Monday, nearly 23 years after Park lost her life in the line of duty, a polished stone marker honoring her was placed on the roadside by the trail in Brooker Creek Preserve where she died.
The marker was placed through the efforts of the Pinellas County Environmental Lands Division, which operates the 8,000-plus-acre preserve.
On Monday, wildlife officers from all over the state, other law enforcement officers and firefighters and a representative of Gov. Charlie Crist came to pay homage to Park in a solemn ceremony under a hot fall sun.
"She was a stellar officer – hardworking, dedicated and professional," says Col. Julie Jones, director of the Division of Law Enforcement of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as the agency with which Park served is now known. "She was missed at the time of her death over two decades ago, and she is still missed today."
Kat Kelley, an FWC officer and a friend of Park, subsequently developed a training program for female wildlife officers who, like their male counterparts, patrol alone in isolated wooded areas of the state.
After Park's death, female officers were also issued specially tailored holsters and guns. Park lost control of her pistol while trying to fend off from 20 to 30 blows with her heavy metal flashlight from Grossman.
"Law enforcement trainers throughout the world continue to be presented with a case study of Peggy's untimely death and receive training on how to better equip and train female officers for survival." Kelly says.
Grossman attacked Park while she was trying to report having found a semiautomatic pistol in the van Grossman had driven to the remote spot of Pinellas County from his home in Pasco.
Grossman was in violation of probation in connection with a previous criminal conviction for possessing the gun and being out of Pasco County.
Per capita, wildlife officers suffer one of the highest rates of assaults, Kelley said.
Every training session she offers is dedicated to Park's memory, Kelley said.
See story in Saturday's Suncoast News, Pinellas edition
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