May 14, 2026 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, after Diego Moreno of the Kent Police Department was killed during a police pursuit in Kent, Washington, his wife and longtime patrol partner shared stories about the man behind the badge. For our National Police Week programming, they remember Moreno as a devoted father, energetic friend, relentless police officer, and larger-than-life personality who brought joy, humor, and intensity everywhere he went.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories, and we honor all of
our first responders in this country, and of course our
men and women serving in uniform all around the world,
and we particularly pay homage to the people who paid.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
The ultimate price for their service.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In late July twenty eighteen, in Kent, Washington, a disastrous
combination of fifteen and sixteen year olds alcohol and guns
resulted in a teenager leading the police on a high
speed chase, hitting speeds of ninety five miles per hour
at night. Police officer Diego Moreno got in front of
the fleeing truck and laid down spike strips to stop
(00:50):
the dangerous chase. After the speeding truck spun out of control,
Marino was accidentally struck and killed by a pursuing police vehicle.
A week later, thousands from across the country gathered to
celebrate Marino's life, and the procession stretched for over six miles.
His widow wanted everyone to see her goofy, big hearted
(01:11):
husband as she did.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I'm Shelley Diego's wife. From what you know about Diego
and the way we have honored him today, it's easy
for you to see that Diego loved police work. But
there's one thing Diego loved more than that was being
a daddy. Although it was police work that ultimately took
Diego from us, it was police work that allowed him
to be the father that he was. While he was here,
(01:36):
Diego worked late swing, which rewarded him with daytime daddy's shift.
My phone used to ding every morning at work, and
I would take it out and find multiple Instagram messages
of riotous singing and dancing in the car while waiting
in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
For school to start.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Then, without complaint of his five hours of sleep, he
would walk our daughter to class and stand in line
with her until he saw her safely in the classroom.
Then forty minutes later, my phone would dig again as
the process started all over again at preschool. To say
he was protective was an understatement, and he loved his
children fiercely. When Diego's boots were unlaced for the final time,
(02:18):
more evidence of fatherhood excellence was found a fresh peticure
in primary blue. Diego had taken our daughter for petties
just last week, and she got to choose his color.
He was impressed that the lacquer made them so shiny.
Diego's childish enthusiasm for life was contagious. When plaining sidewalk chalk,
(02:39):
he wouldn't just draw with the kids, He'd help them
make our dog Wally into a pink striped zebra. And
this week, when many of you stopped by, you asked
what is wrong with your dog? And I replied with
the standard answer you all know so well, eh Diego,
and no more explanation was necessary. A few months ago,
(03:01):
he and our son went to get a fresh cut
with his cherished hairdresser, who I had bribed on many
occasions to make a mistake on his hair. Afterward, as
a reward for a job well done in a chair,
he took our son to pick out a new toy,
a three foot Nerve sniper rifle with a six round
magazine capacity. In multiple magazines, it has been open season
(03:25):
on me ever since. With Diego as their platoon leader,
I now have a four year old with a two
second reload time and a daughter that can apply a tourniquet.
A speech about Diego would be incomplete without mentioning his
affinity for food. My skinny fat kid Diego has passed
this tradition onto his children. That's my daughter's sushi set,
(03:49):
barbie stuff down there. Our children are young and their
future memories of their father will be few and faded.
But Diego left so much of his larger than life
character with all of you, and I asked that in
the coming months and years, that you joined me in
helping them remember.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Next up one of the people who will help the
Marino kids remember their dad, and that's his longtime police
partner who recently switched uniforms to become a firefighter.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
My name is Matt Mullenix.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I was a City a Kent police officer for eight
years and I got hired about the same time Diego did.
And I can hear his voice now saying, what the
hell is a firefighter doing talking at my service? We
talked about this day coming, if it ever came, and
(04:43):
Diego always said, I don't want you guys sitting in
a chair staring at the corner. I want you guys
to celebrate. My first impression of Diego was made before
I even met him. I had just graduated the police
academy myself. I'd just been on the street for a
couple of months, and I heard about this hard charger,
this young guy that we just tired, very promising prospect.
(05:05):
Halfway through the academy, blew his knee out, and that's
a career ender A.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Lot of the time, I've done it.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And instead of having surgery to fix his knee and
finishing the academy later like a normal person would do,
Diego slapped a knee brace on his leg and finished
the rest of his academy with a blown out knee,
completing all the physical and academic requirements, and then he
got his knee fix. That was my first impression of
(05:34):
a man that I am honored to call my best friend,
who was a coworker good Lord. When Diego healed up,
we were assigned to the same beat and we were
beat partners for many, many years. Diego lived his life
at one thousand miles an hour with such a fierce intensity.
I've never seen anything like it. I don't know how
(05:57):
he did it. He would walk into the break room
at work, and whether you knew this man for ten
years or ten seconds, he would immediately infect everyone in
that room with that energy. He'd take a lap around
the break room, he'd crack a joke, sit on someone's lap,
make them extremely uncomfortable. He didn't hail a burrito or
(06:18):
a donut as fast as humanly possible, and then one
of us will get dispatched to a call, and through
his mouthfuls of carne soada and delicious pastry, and out
on top of that is Venezuelan accent, which made it
difficult to understand him in the first place. He would
key up his radio. His call SI was two King
(06:39):
five to six. He'd keep up his ready and say,
two King five to six. That unit is about to secure.
We're about to go home. I've got it. Show me
in rounte and then he'd do a little dance and
he'd go out of the room and he'd go to
the call.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That's who Diego was as a co worker, to me
and to so many of us as a friend.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
When Diego and I began to hang out more outside
of work, we text each other, Hey, what.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Are you doing right now? What are you doing later today?
What are you doing tomorrow? This weekend?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Whenever he texted me first, the message always began with
a hey, and then a word that rhymed with swat.
And after about the thirtieth or fortieth time that he
called me that, I said, Hey, is there anything wrong
with you saying what's up, buddy, how's your day going, what.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Are you up to?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
And it seemed like before I'd even sent that message,
he had responded with about four or five more very
creative ways of using that same term. And so I thought,
you know, this is just Diego. This is a term
of endearment. And I thought that for many years until
last week when I was reminiscing with some very close
friends and coworkers and I just mentioned, you know, I
(07:57):
always thought it was funny. How do you who called
me that name or that word? I'm sure he called
you the same thing. And everybody got me.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A really weird look.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
And said, no, Matt, Diego liked us, and I think
you were a special case.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And even now, buddy, after you're gone, you're still making
me feel special.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
As a father, Diego and Shelley were kind enough to
allow me to be a part of Peyton and Adrian's lives.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Pretty much since they were born.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I was always an awe and how he was able
to amplify that intense and fierce energy that he lived
his life with, whether it was work or play, and
by a thousandfold with Shelley and the kids, put that
energy back into them.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't have kids of.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
My own, but I always told myself that if.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I ever had a kid, if I could be half the.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Dad Diego was, I would be down in success. And
maybe I set the bar a little high for myself,
even at half, but.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's the kind of.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Dat Diego was. It's all close with this, Diego. I
am now talking directly to you. You always had our bags, buddy,
whether we knew we needed a back or not.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
We turn around and there you were. And I make
this promise to you and to you.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Shelley, that the people who are the most important to
you in this world, your family, will want for nothing
ever until my dying breath.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I promise you both that.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And just for you, buddy, I've got one last radio
transition in me as a cop two King five four
to two King five six. I know you're ready to
secure and you're going home.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You can clear.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
We got this, and my goodness, it doesn't get more
beautiful than that, folks. And you don't hear men loving
on men that way in public. You always had our backs, buddy,
and we can count, if we're lucky, a few people
(10:17):
in our lives who always have our back. We just
heard from a bride and a partner. National Police Week
officer Diego Moreno of the Kent Police Department in Washington State.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
This is our American story.
This is our American stories, and we honor all of
our first responders in this country, and of course our
men and women serving in uniform all around the world,
and we particularly pay homage to the people who paid.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
The ultimate price for their service.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In late July twenty eighteen, in Kent, Washington, a disastrous
combination of fifteen and sixteen year olds alcohol and guns
resulted in a teenager leading the police on a high
speed chase, hitting speeds of ninety five miles per hour
at night. Police officer Diego Moreno got in front of
the fleeing truck and laid down spike strips to stop
(00:50):
the dangerous chase. After the speeding truck spun out of control,
Marino was accidentally struck and killed by a pursuing police vehicle.
A week later, thousands from across the country gathered to
celebrate Marino's life, and the procession stretched for over six miles.
His widow wanted everyone to see her goofy, big hearted
(01:11):
husband as she did.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I'm Shelley Diego's wife. From what you know about Diego
and the way we have honored him today, it's easy
for you to see that Diego loved police work. But
there's one thing Diego loved more than that was being
a daddy. Although it was police work that ultimately took
Diego from us, it was police work that allowed him
to be the father that he was. While he was here,
(01:36):
Diego worked late swing, which rewarded him with daytime daddy's shift.
My phone used to ding every morning at work, and
I would take it out and find multiple Instagram messages
of riotous singing and dancing in the car while waiting
in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
For school to start.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Then, without complaint of his five hours of sleep, he
would walk our daughter to class and stand in line
with her until he saw her safely in the classroom.
Then forty minutes later, my phone would dig again as
the process started all over again at preschool. To say
he was protective was an understatement, and he loved his
children fiercely. When Diego's boots were unlaced for the final time,
(02:18):
more evidence of fatherhood excellence was found a fresh peticure
in primary blue. Diego had taken our daughter for petties
just last week, and she got to choose his color.
He was impressed that the lacquer made them so shiny.
Diego's childish enthusiasm for life was contagious. When plaining sidewalk chalk,
(02:39):
he wouldn't just draw with the kids, He'd help them
make our dog Wally into a pink striped zebra. And
this week, when many of you stopped by, you asked
what is wrong with your dog? And I replied with
the standard answer you all know so well, eh Diego,
and no more explanation was necessary. A few months ago,
(03:01):
he and our son went to get a fresh cut
with his cherished hairdresser, who I had bribed on many
occasions to make a mistake on his hair. Afterward, as
a reward for a job well done in a chair,
he took our son to pick out a new toy,
a three foot Nerve sniper rifle with a six round
magazine capacity. In multiple magazines, it has been open season
(03:25):
on me ever since. With Diego as their platoon leader,
I now have a four year old with a two
second reload time and a daughter that can apply a tourniquet.
A speech about Diego would be incomplete without mentioning his
affinity for food. My skinny fat kid Diego has passed
this tradition onto his children. That's my daughter's sushi set,
(03:49):
barbie stuff down there. Our children are young and their
future memories of their father will be few and faded.
But Diego left so much of his larger than life
character with all of you, and I asked that in
the coming months and years, that you joined me in
helping them remember.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Next up one of the people who will help the
Marino kids remember their dad, and that's his longtime police
partner who recently switched uniforms to become a firefighter.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
My name is Matt Mullenix.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I was a City a Kent police officer for eight
years and I got hired about the same time Diego did.
And I can hear his voice now saying, what the
hell is a firefighter doing talking at my service? We
talked about this day coming, if it ever came, and
(04:43):
Diego always said, I don't want you guys sitting in
a chair staring at the corner. I want you guys
to celebrate. My first impression of Diego was made before
I even met him. I had just graduated the police
academy myself. I'd just been on the street for a
couple of months, and I heard about this hard charger,
this young guy that we just tired, very promising prospect.
(05:05):
Halfway through the academy, blew his knee out, and that's
a career ender A.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Lot of the time, I've done it.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And instead of having surgery to fix his knee and
finishing the academy later like a normal person would do,
Diego slapped a knee brace on his leg and finished
the rest of his academy with a blown out knee,
completing all the physical and academic requirements, and then he
got his knee fix. That was my first impression of
(05:34):
a man that I am honored to call my best friend,
who was a coworker good Lord. When Diego healed up,
we were assigned to the same beat and we were
beat partners for many, many years. Diego lived his life
at one thousand miles an hour with such a fierce intensity.
I've never seen anything like it. I don't know how
(05:57):
he did it. He would walk into the break room
at work, and whether you knew this man for ten
years or ten seconds, he would immediately infect everyone in
that room with that energy. He'd take a lap around
the break room, he'd crack a joke, sit on someone's lap,
make them extremely uncomfortable. He didn't hail a burrito or
(06:18):
a donut as fast as humanly possible, and then one
of us will get dispatched to a call, and through
his mouthfuls of carne soada and delicious pastry, and out
on top of that is Venezuelan accent, which made it
difficult to understand him in the first place. He would
key up his radio. His call SI was two King
(06:39):
five to six. He'd keep up his ready and say,
two King five to six. That unit is about to secure.
We're about to go home. I've got it. Show me
in rounte and then he'd do a little dance and
he'd go out of the room and he'd go to
the call.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That's who Diego was as a co worker, to me
and to so many of us as a friend.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
When Diego and I began to hang out more outside
of work, we text each other, Hey, what.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Are you doing right now? What are you doing later today?
What are you doing tomorrow? This weekend?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Whenever he texted me first, the message always began with
a hey, and then a word that rhymed with swat.
And after about the thirtieth or fortieth time that he
called me that, I said, Hey, is there anything wrong
with you saying what's up, buddy, how's your day going, what.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Are you up to?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
And it seemed like before I'd even sent that message,
he had responded with about four or five more very
creative ways of using that same term. And so I thought,
you know, this is just Diego. This is a term
of endearment. And I thought that for many years until
last week when I was reminiscing with some very close
friends and coworkers and I just mentioned, you know, I
(07:57):
always thought it was funny. How do you who called
me that name or that word? I'm sure he called
you the same thing. And everybody got me.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A really weird look.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
And said, no, Matt, Diego liked us, and I think
you were a special case.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And even now, buddy, after you're gone, you're still making
me feel special.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
As a father, Diego and Shelley were kind enough to
allow me to be a part of Peyton and Adrian's lives.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Pretty much since they were born.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I was always an awe and how he was able
to amplify that intense and fierce energy that he lived
his life with, whether it was work or play, and
by a thousandfold with Shelley and the kids, put that
energy back into them.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't have kids of.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
My own, but I always told myself that if.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I ever had a kid, if I could be half the.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Dad Diego was, I would be down in success. And
maybe I set the bar a little high for myself,
even at half, but.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's the kind of.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Dat Diego was. It's all close with this, Diego. I
am now talking directly to you. You always had our bags, buddy,
whether we knew we needed a back or not.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
We turn around and there you were. And I make
this promise to you and to you.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Shelley, that the people who are the most important to
you in this world, your family, will want for nothing
ever until my dying breath.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I promise you both that.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And just for you, buddy, I've got one last radio
transition in me as a cop two King five four
to two King five six. I know you're ready to
secure and you're going home.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You can clear.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
We got this, and my goodness, it doesn't get more
beautiful than that, folks. And you don't hear men loving
on men that way in public. You always had our backs, buddy,
and we can count, if we're lucky, a few people
(10:17):
in our lives who always have our back. We just
heard from a bride and a partner. National Police Week
officer Diego Moreno of the Kent Police Department in Washington State.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
This is our American story.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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