CARMEL — One of Carmel’s most beloved sidewalk statues, featuring Officer Carey, is back in place on Main Street at the Monon Greenway after months of being repaired and repainted.
Professional artists at the Seward Johnson Atelier, from which the city obtained that and the other Seward Johnson statues, repaired a damaged antenna on the officer’s hand-held radio, then removed and replaced the paint and seal before returning it last week.
The statue is officially named “Oh It’s You, Welcome.” City street department crews installed the statue back in its original place on Wednesday.
The bronze statue pays honor to Deputy Constable William Frank Carey of the Carmel Police Department who was shot and killed in the line of duty on June 8, 1900.
Officer Carey is the only Carmel police officer to have been killed while on duty. He was only 32 years old and had worked for Carmel Police for a year before he was killed by a traveling evangelist known as “Cyclone Johnson,” who had a history of assaulting anyone who disagreed with his preaching.
