Pennsylvania detectives killed in an ambush are remembered for saving lives and helping others

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YORK, Pa. (AP) — The three detectives killed this week in one of Pennsylvania's deadliest days for police this century are men who will be missed for their humility, hard work and willingness to help others, say those who knew them.

The detectives — Mark Baker, Cody Becker and Isaiah Emenheiser — were lauded by local law enforcement officials as pillars of the Northern York County Regional Police Department, where they had served nearly six decades combined.

They had saved lives before and, a prosecutor said, were doing that again when they walked into an ambush as they searched for a 24-year-old man wanted in a stalking case.

The department's chief, Dave Lash, said the men “represented the best of policing. They served with professionalism, dedication and courage.”

All were fathers, leaving behind wives and eight kids combined.

Becker, 39, had served with the department for 16 years and had been a big name in his home town of Spring Grove going back to high school, when he was a star athlete for the Rockets in football, baseball and wrestling.

“To know Cody was to know a man of unmatched dedication, grit, and unwavering selflessness,” his former wrestling coaches said in a statement on social media.

His high school football legend includes intercepting a pass from Chad Henne — who went on to quarterback in the NFL — and returning it for a touchdown.

But he was most accomplished in wrestling.

Becker went on to wrestle at Millersville University, even qualifying for the NCAA's Division 1 wrestling tournament in 2007. He returned to Spring Grove to mentor wrestlers there, an example of what the coaches say was unmatched humility and selflessness, “always putting others before himself — traits that carried through every aspect of his life.”

Soon after joining the police force, Becker was honored for rescuing a mother and three children who were trapped on the third floor of a burning apartment building. The rescue included Becker climbing onto a second-story roof and catching the children as the mother dropped them into his arms, according to an FBI commendation bulletin.

Becker loved being a cop, said Andy Ziegler, a lawyer who grew up with Cody.

“He loved being able to help people. I mean, that was the big thing for him is he knew he was making a difference and he knew that he was helping people,” Ziegler said.

Becker was also the nicest person you were ever going to meet, he said. Ziegler recalled that when Becker heard Ziegler was struggling with his family and his mental health, Becker immediately went to see Ziegler.

“And that really does exemplify Cody. If you were a friend of Cody’s, Cody had your back for life,” Ziegler said.

Baker, 53, started his career with the Philadelphia Police Department in 2001 and moved to the Northern York County Regional department in 2004.

“Counting down the days to retirement,” he said with a smile on a computer forensics podcast last year.

On the force, he started as a “street officer” and then became a computer forensics investigation specialist, at least in part because of his aptitude with the office hardware.

“I've always been into computers, that's kind of how everybody's story starts, I think,” he told the podcast host. “I was the one to set up the Wi-Fi passwords, and when they had a printer issue, ‘call Baker in,’ so I'd come in off the street and fix their printer issues, and that's kind of how it all began.”

He recalled realizing that he would need training to be a computer forensics investigation specialist in 2007 after getting in hot water with the district attorney for how he copied evidence from a seized computer.

Despite that humble beginning, he eventually became skilled enough to serve as an instructor with the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists.

In a statement, the organization said it was heartbroken and called him a “beloved member” of its family, serving as training manager and “safeguarding the gold standard of digital forensics training and certification.”

Baker was tall — at least 6'4'' — and towered over the Boy Scouts troops he was active with. He loved hunting and fishing: “Anything to get me outdoors is just fantastic for me,” he said on the podcast.

In 2012, he and 13 fellow officers were given a commendation for resolving a volatile seven-hour standoff when they arrested an armed man without gunfire who had barricaded himself inside his house.

A sister-in-law, Kimberly Crowley, attended a Thursday night vigil for the officers.

“He was just all around a good person,” she told The New York Times. “He just wanted to serve his community.”

Emenheiser, 43, had served 20 years on the force after graduating from York College.

He loved working out, once posting a photo of himself with Hulk Hogan in a gym while on vacation in Clearwater, Florida. According to one friend, the two men had logged nearly 10,000 hours in the gym together during the course of their 24-year friendship.

That friend, Cody Bright, said on Facebook that Emenheiser had made him welcome in his family.

“Isaiah remains the hardest working most selfless man I’ve ever met. He served his community as a police officer and as a detective helping make the place he grew up and loved safer for everyone,” Bright said.

In 2015, Emenheiser was a patrol officer when he responded to a call — and ended up nearly being shot.

Emenheiser went into the basement of the home where a distraught woman said an armed man had forced his way in after a confrontation with his brother, according to local news reports at the time.

The man took a shot at Emenheiser — narrowly missing — and Emenheiser returned fire and struck the man in the buttocks.

Another friend, Tyler Hornberger, said Emenheiser had helped his family in countless ways — including storing all of Hornberger’s household belongings in his garage while he waited to close on a house.

“He was a true friend and one of the best men I’ve ever known,” Hornberger said in a post on Facebook.