Police Officer Runs Chicago Marathon in 30 Pounds of Tactical Gear to Honor Fallen Officers

Running a marathon is no easy feat for any person, but one Chicago police officer was able to finish the entire race while wearing 30 pounds of tactical gear to show his support the families of fallen officers.

Chicago Police Officer James Mendoza was one of almost 50,000 runners from all over the world who ran the Chicago Marathon last Sunday.

Adventure photographer and attorney Dean Tatooles was waiting to take pictures of a friend who was running when he spotted Mendoza.

"This is weird, there's a police officer in the middle of the runners," Tatooles told WLS-TV. "And then I saw he was wearing a bib. And then I saw he was wearing all the tactical equipment."

Tatooles quickly raised his camera and captured the moment, then tried to give Mendoza some support.

"This guy is a beast," Tatooles told the station. "And I ran up next to him and gave him a pat on the back and started screaming at him, and he looked at me. And apparently around the corner he was running pretty good, so maybe it worked out."

The Chicago Police Department said that Mendoza ran the marathon to help raise funds for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit that financially supports the families of officers who died or were severely injured in the line of duty.

Mendoza is an avid runner, and previously served in the Navy. He was one of 80 others who ran to support the foundation, and he helped raise $160,000 for the nonprofit.

"While everybody else has the lightest shorts and shoes and everything, Jim's out there doing it with his full uniform on," Phil Cline, executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, told the outlet.

He added, "You can't go backwards, you've got to keep moving forward. He showed us that not only can you do that on the street as a policeman, but he did it as an athlete."