Good memories of David, a lunchtime pal and a real solid guy. From https://wauwatosa.fandom.com/wiki/David_Breitlow: "David Breitlow (— December 2, 2004), was a 30-year veteran police officer at the Wauwatosa Police Department. He died on December 2, 2004 due to add unexpected massive heart attack." So terribly unfortunate. Brother Steve, a Tosa police dispatcher for a few years long ago, remembers David as a fine, well-respected police officer. Rest in peace, Dave; see 'ya on the other side. /VR/ Tom Schwendtner
Dave Breitlow’s death was a shock to all of us, his wife, his family, his friends, his fellow officers, and for many of those who were lucky enough to have had a relationship or even had met Dave. My relationship with Dave started in high school with playing sheepshead, being on the volleyball team and being part of the nerd group from school. Dave and my relationship grew after graduation. I want to share with you some of Dave’s life. Dave became a police dispatcher for the Wauwatosa Police Department after graduation. He then became a patrolman. He was the type of police officer that would give breaks to people when he knew that was the right thing to do, but catch and arrest the violent criminals that none of us want to have walking on the streets. He was a compassionate and caring Wauwatosa police officer. I’d like to share just two stories about Dave’s time as a patrolman. An example of how caring Dave was - a woman from Brookfield and passed an elderly man on his car on his right side or emergency lane and hooked his bumper when she went back into the proper lane. When Dave got there, the elderly man was very upset and shaking and the Brookfield woman came up to Dave and asked how long is this going to take? Dave told her flat out to get back in her car or she will be ticketed. His concern was for the health and well being of the elderly man and would not be bullied. Another example is when Dave was chasing a young man for robbery. He was running through neighborhoods near North Avenue and 70th St., and he was yelling at the young man to drop the weapon he was carrying. While in a neighbor’s yard, he saw an evergreen tree move, and he told me that was one of the most terrifying moments of his career. He pointed his gun at the tree, and told the individual to throw his gun out. Luckily the young man obliged and walked out of the cover of the evergreen tree. David just finished his 30 years in the police department when Val Werner, Dave, Darrell Dummer, and myself were playing Sheepshead at my house in Delafield. We used to have between five and seven people show up for Sheepshead on maybe a quarterly basis at different friends homes. That was on Saturday, November 20, 2004. After the game when everyone had left, I spoke to Dave on a cell phone and we had a good laugh talking about how Val Werner would drive so close to peoples cars on the expressway, your knuckles got white as you clenched in fear. Val is actually a very good driver but you could not see the license plate of the car in front of him when Val drove on the expressway. Three days later Dave would be riding his bicycle with a friend from Wales on a beautiful November 23rd day, when he had a widow maker heart attack and died in Milwaukee. It was at a restaurant near the Iron Horse that use to just serve healthy food that they had just stopped at to eat. Dave worked out all the time at the police department. This was the Dave that did ultramarathons. Dave, Lynn and I did triathlons together. We took Sagbraw trips together. We actually have a picture of Dave, me and two other riders going down a large hill, that covered 3/4 of the front page of the Milwaukee Sentinal. We had buried Dave‘s dad, ‘Otto, in January. His dad‘s throat cancer had come back which he might’ve developed during his time in the Marines in the Pacific in World War II. That’s why it was a shock to us. I can share with you that Dave became an expert in riding and working on bicycles. I was fortunate enough to have gone to the boundary waters with Dave three different times. We played on many beach, volleyball teams. My estimate of the people that attended his funeral to be somewhere around 2000. I was privileged to deliver Dave's Eulogy. I met a young woman at the funeral who is working to become a police officer who had a drug problem when she was younger and through guidance of Dave she was rehabilitated. That was Dave. He helped people all the time. I know I do not have to explain to you that knew Dave that he was a gentle giant, and his smile would light up the room. He met his wife, Lynn playing volleyball at the Salvation Army gym in Milwaukee. Their wedding was wonderful. They did not have any children but they had Beans and Barley. They were two black cats from an abandon litter that Dave found when he was on the graveyard shift. He found homes for all the cats and they kept two. He also had an aura when dealing with animals. A llama had escaped from the Milwaukee zoo that no one could not catch and Dave was called. He waved to the llama to come to him and it did. Many of us also saw this at Mike Stolzkopf‘s sisters house. Her cat did not even like her husband and would hiss at anybody but her. We saw Dave get down on his knees look under the bed that the cat was hiding under and the cat crawled out and crawled on his lap. That was Dave. Dave was like a brother to me. For anybody that wants to hear more about Dave, please ask me.
Thomas Schwendtner
Good memories of David, a lunchtime pal and a real solid guy. From https://wauwatosa.fandom.com/wiki/David_Breitlow: "David Breitlow (— December 2, 2004), was a 30-year veteran police officer at the Wauwatosa Police Department. He died on December 2, 2004 due to add unexpected massive heart attack." So terribly unfortunate. Brother Steve, a Tosa police dispatcher for a few years long ago, remembers David as a fine, well-respected police officer. Rest in peace, Dave; see 'ya on the other side. /VR/ Tom Schwendtner
Richard Dallen
Dave Breitlow’s death was a shock to all of us, his wife, his family, his friends, his fellow officers, and for many of those who were lucky enough to have had a relationship or even had met Dave. My relationship with Dave started in high school with playing sheepshead, being on the volleyball team and being part of the nerd group from school. Dave and my relationship grew after graduation. I want to share with you some of Dave’s life. Dave became a police dispatcher for the Wauwatosa Police Department after graduation. He then became a patrolman. He was the type of police officer that would give breaks to people when he knew that was the right thing to do, but catch and arrest the violent criminals that none of us want to have walking on the streets. He was a compassionate and caring Wauwatosa police officer. I’d like to share just two stories about Dave’s time as a patrolman. An example of how caring Dave was - a woman from Brookfield and passed an elderly man on his car on his right side or emergency lane and hooked his bumper when she went back into the proper lane. When Dave got there, the elderly man was very upset and shaking and the Brookfield woman came up to Dave and asked how long is this going to take? Dave told her flat out to get back in her car or she will be ticketed. His concern was for the health and well being of the elderly man and would not be bullied. Another example is when Dave was chasing a young man for robbery. He was running through neighborhoods near North Avenue and 70th St., and he was yelling at the young man to drop the weapon he was carrying. While in a neighbor’s yard, he saw an evergreen tree move, and he told me that was one of the most terrifying moments of his career. He pointed his gun at the tree, and told the individual to throw his gun out. Luckily the young man obliged and walked out of the cover of the evergreen tree. David just finished his 30 years in the police department when Val Werner, Dave, Darrell Dummer, and myself were playing Sheepshead at my house in Delafield. We used to have between five and seven people show up for Sheepshead on maybe a quarterly basis at different friends homes. That was on Saturday, November 20, 2004. After the game when everyone had left, I spoke to Dave on a cell phone and we had a good laugh talking about how Val Werner would drive so close to peoples cars on the expressway, your knuckles got white as you clenched in fear. Val is actually a very good driver but you could not see the license plate of the car in front of him when Val drove on the expressway. Three days later Dave would be riding his bicycle with a friend from Wales on a beautiful November 23rd day, when he had a widow maker heart attack and died in Milwaukee. It was at a restaurant near the Iron Horse that use to just serve healthy food that they had just stopped at to eat. Dave worked out all the time at the police department. This was the Dave that did ultramarathons. Dave, Lynn and I did triathlons together. We took Sagbraw trips together. We actually have a picture of Dave, me and two other riders going down a large hill, that covered 3/4 of the front page of the Milwaukee Sentinal. We had buried Dave‘s dad, ‘Otto, in January. His dad‘s throat cancer had come back which he might’ve developed during his time in the Marines in the Pacific in World War II. That’s why it was a shock to us. I can share with you that Dave became an expert in riding and working on bicycles. I was fortunate enough to have gone to the boundary waters with Dave three different times. We played on many beach, volleyball teams. My estimate of the people that attended his funeral to be somewhere around 2000. I was privileged to deliver Dave's Eulogy. I met a young woman at the funeral who is working to become a police officer who had a drug problem when she was younger and through guidance of Dave she was rehabilitated. That was Dave. He helped people all the time. I know I do not have to explain to you that knew Dave that he was a gentle giant, and his smile would light up the room. He met his wife, Lynn playing volleyball at the Salvation Army gym in Milwaukee. Their wedding was wonderful. They did not have any children but they had Beans and Barley. They were two black cats from an abandon litter that Dave found when he was on the graveyard shift. He found homes for all the cats and they kept two. He also had an aura when dealing with animals. A llama had escaped from the Milwaukee zoo that no one could not catch and Dave was called. He waved to the llama to come to him and it did. Many of us also saw this at Mike Stolzkopf‘s sisters house. Her cat did not even like her husband and would hiss at anybody but her. We saw Dave get down on his knees look under the bed that the cat was hiding under and the cat crawled out and crawled on his lap. That was Dave. Dave was like a brother to me. For anybody that wants to hear more about Dave, please ask me.