Tara O’Sullivan remembered year after her death, but North Sac field’s dedication on hold

A North Sacramento baseball field bearing a thin blue line in remembrance of Tara O’Sullivan will not be dedicated to the fallen officer this weekend, the Sacramento Police Officer’s Association said in a social media post.

Friday marked the one-year anniversary of her death.

The Sacramento City Council voted in February to dedicate the baseball field to O’Sullivan, and “In preparation for this dedication, City staff in April painted the field’s backstop black,” said Councilman Allen Warren in a Facebook post. “A thin blue line was included by the painters on the backstop as a tribute to Officer O’Sullivan and her family.”

Last week, the backstop was vandalized.

“The blue line was painted over by vandals,” the police officer’s association said on Facebook. “Volunteers have now repainted the blue line, but I have received word that the city (at the direction of the local councilmember) is planning on painting the whole thing green and has put the dedication on hold.”

SPOA President Timothy Davis did not respond to The Bee’s request for comment this week.

In a Facebook post, Warren said, “The repainting was not done by city staff, and the city does not know who painted it.”

“Baseball backstops in city parks traditionally are painted green, and staff is working to repaint the backstop green later this week and finalize a date for the field dedication,” he said.

O’Sullivan, 26, was slain last year while responding to a domestic violence call in Del Paso Heights. She was Sacramento Police Department’s first line-of-duty death in nearly 20 years.

This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 7:13 PM.