VISALIA, Calif. (KMPH) -
People in the South Valley are remembering a veteran of the Visalia Police Department, who recently lost his battle with cancer.
Friends and family say Richard Grossman wasn't your typical cop, he was the type of cop that even that bad guys liked.
"Dick", as everyone knew him, retired as a fraud investigator in 1992.
He was a cop for 32 years.
But it wasn't what he did as a cop that people will remember, but how he did it.
His wife, Judy, recalls how he treated a guy he arrested right after the man stabbed him.
"This man, when he got out of prison...the man who was in charge of him called Dick because he knew what kind of man he was, and Dick said sure, if he's straight, I'll help him. And so he got a job for him. He got a job for the man who stabbed him," said Judy Grossman.
Judy says he treated everyone, including those he put in jail with dignity and respect.
"We would be on the street, and somebody would say ‘Hi Dick.' And I'd go, ‘who's that?' And he'd say ‘I think I arrested her a couple years ago.' And this would happen time after time," said Judy.
Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman says Dick was his training officer when he joined the Visalia Police Department.
"Everyone liked him, the officers on the streets, even the crooks liked him," said Sheriff Wittman.
He remembers the time the two came across a man who had stolen a refrigerator.
Wittman says he got his baton out but Dick told him to put it back.
"Well I put the night stick back in the car and here was this giant of a man. Dick gave him a good lecture and the guy carried the refrigerator back to where he took it from. Seems almost impossible a guy could carry it," said Sheriff Wittman.
He says Dick wasn't the type of cop who just wanted to throw bad guys in jail - he'd rather make things right if he could.
His wife says letters have poured in from strangers who talk of all the good deeds Dick did over the years - things he never told anyone about.
She says he lived a life and career to be proud of.
"He's going to be missed, very, very much," said Judy.
Dick's family says they're not having a funeral for him, rather, they are going to have a celebration of his life, this weekend.
Dick Grossman leaves behind his wife of 33 years, five kids, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
