For more than 50 years, Hialeah police officers have talked about vim and vigor. They have talked about bravado and brute force. They have talked about Lt. Leo Thalassites.
“Four guys still can’t hold me down,” said Hialeah Police Lt. Leo Thalassites, who was honored a day after his 90th birthday at Hialeah City Hall. “No one can hold me down, understand?”
And no one could hold down their excitement for the nonagenarian as city leaders, police officers and friends sang Happy Birthday to Thalassites during the April 26 city council meeting. at City Hall.
Thalassites marched to the podium as the big screen beamed photos of his half-century tenure, and the theme music from the film Rocky roared in the background.
“The whole country has to thank you,” said Hialeah Police Lt. Carl Zogby. “Leo is a highly decorated combat veteran of World War II and Korea who honorably served in all five branches of the military and earned three Purple Hearts.”
Zogby added that Thalassites was also a “karate, judo and jui-jitsu expert long before anyone knew what that was.”
Read more at the Miami Herald.
