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Name/Nickname: Justin Daniel Reichert (AKA Reich, Hero Cop)
Gender: Male
Birthdate/"Permanent" Story Age/Astrological Sign: NA; thirties/forties; Cancer
Birthplace/Current Location: Manhattan, New York City, New York; Minot, North Dakota
Height: 6'3"
Weight/Body Type: Lean/athletic
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Dark brown; short, somewhat spiky/tousled
Race/Ethnic Background: Identifies as Caucasian; mixed European German-American/Roma-American ancestry (biological father is Romani)
Relationship Status: In relationship (Matthew Claasen, boyfriend); formerly romantically involved with Joseph Silvertree
Orientation: Homoromantic homosexual
Siblings: Name unknown (older sister, deceased in infancy); Timothy Reichert (younger stepbrother); possible half-sibling(s) from biological father's second marriage
Profession: Former police detective, New York City (NY) Police Department; police detective, Minot (ND) Police Department
Distinguishing Characteristics: Compassionate but moody; prone to angry outbursts, but often feels remorseful afterwards; very dark/gallows sense of humor; cynical, but tries not to be bitter or misanthropic; rather high tolerance for dealing with traumatic situations involving other people (the other police usually make him screen disturbing video and audio evidence since he handles it best), though he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder himself; alternates between irritable, argumentative highs and gloomy, apathetic lows (likely has an undiagnosed, milder type of bipolar disorder, such as cyclothymia); foul mouthed; not particularly religious, but experiences "Catholic guilt" at times; high physical pain threshold--sometimes neglects his health because of this; dislikes using painkillers or drinking, though does the latter now and then; went through a period of masochistic sexual promiscuity, but is in recovery now; often regarded by others as "jinxed" or damaged goods due to his bad experiences; can be reckless
General Appearance: Taller than most of the others in the Minot Police Department, and often has a rather scowly expression, so can come across as more intimidating than he is; brooding, moody, emotionally volatile, sometimes argumentative; dresses casually on and off the job, usually in a T-shirt, jacket, and jeans; walks with a slight limp and experiences pain and occasional weakness in left arm and leg; wears glasses that tint in the sunlight (more for light sensitivity than for eyesight); deep furrowed burn scars on his palms, which he almost always conceals with fingerless gloves
First Appeared In: Magic City; Milk Cartons
Character Summary: Justin Reichert's mother's marriage to his father, who was of Romani descent, didn't last very long; Justin's older sister died of leukemia before he was even born, and by the time he was a very young boy his parents did little but argue, with his mother being the primary instigator. The marriage was annulled and Justin's biological father disappeared from his life, though for a long time Justin waited for him to come back, even teaching himself the Romani language in the hopes it would help earn his approval.
In high school, after learning about the case of Kitty Genovese in class, Justin decided to enter law enforcement. He remained close to his mother even in adulthood, and welcomed his teenaged stepbrother, Timothy, when his mother remarried, though he was always somewhat distant from his stepfather. He managed to be promoted to detective and did well on the job, but his personal life suffered, as he couldn't seem to maintain any romantic relationships. The reason for this became uncomfortably clear one night when, on an impulse, he stopped at a gay bar and attracted the attention of another young man named Matt Claasen, who accosted him just as he was attempting to slip out. After throwing up in a nearby garbage can ("Nervous," he explained), Reichert reluctantly agreed to accompany Matt back to his apartment to talk (Matt assured him they didn't have to do anything he was uncomfortable doing); he told Matt his reason for being in the bar, and admitted he was uneasy being in such a place as he was a police officer. Matt convinced him to stay a while and they were intimate, though immediately afterward Reichert left in a near-panic and avoided contact with Matt for a few weeks; he was surprised, when he finally ventured back to Matt's apartment, that the other man wasn't offended, and they ate and talked for a long while, getting to know each other. Reichert continued to express doubt about his orientation, but Matt effectively countered each argument until there was little doubt left, which both dismayed and relieved Reichert. He decided to keep his relationship with Matt private for the time being; although Matt himself was out, he had no problem with this, and the two maintained a stable relationship for some months.
In 2001, Reichert was involved in negotiating with a man who took hostages in a bank; the trained hostage negotiator was delayed in arriving and so Reichert volunteered to talk the despondent man out of doing anything drastic. The situation was resolved peacefully, though it took up most of the day, leaving Reichert physically and emotionally exhausted; he was given the next day off and so didn't visit Matt that night, talking to him on the phone instead before muting both it and the answering machine and going to bed. The din of numerous sirens prevented him from sleeping in very late the next morning, however, so he groggily got out of bed and turned on the TV while making breakfast; what he saw on the TV--what looked like an action movie, in the format of a news broadcast--confused him so much that he had to flip through a few channels before hurrying to look out his window. Once he belatedly realized that the plumes of smoke rising from the World Trade Center were real, he raced from his apartment and to the scene (catching a ride with a uniformed officer, also late, who informed him that two airplanes had crashed into the Twin Towers); by then the South Tower had already collapsed, so he did what he could to usher people out of the smoke and dust, also pulling a firefighter and at least one civilian out of small piles of rubble, severely burning the palms of both hands in the process when he grabbed a hot metal bar. On hearing the noise of the North Tower beginning to collapse, he attempted to flee, but was caught and buried in the fall of debris. He remained there for almost three days before he was located, at first being mistaken for a corpse; he was the only person to survive being buried after the first day. A metal beam, which had crushed his left leg and arm, had also prevented him from being killed. He wasn't expected to survive long, also suffering a severe head injury, but over the next few weeks slowly regained consciousness and began to respond to staff and family. A man in a wheelchair visited him one day, introducing himself as Jim Falzone, the firefighter Reichert had rescued, though Reichert had no memory of this, and still wasn't sure how he'd ended up in the hospital; Falzone turned on the TV and showed him the news. Confused, Reichert asked where the Twin Towers were, and at first couldn't believe it when Falzone told him they were gone.
Since both of them had suffered leg injuries, Reichert and Falzone went through physical rehabilitation together, and once he'd recuperated enough, Reichert attempted to resume work with a temporary desk job. Attending a small award ceremony for survivors and victims on the anniversary of the attack, however, was more than he could handle, and he fled the gathering, still in his dress uniform, running until he ended up at Matt's apartment. This was their first time seeing each other since before the attack; Matt had gone to see Reichert in the hospital only once when he was still unconscious and aside from the messages he'd left on Reichert's answering machine that morning, hadn't attempted contacting him out of respect for his privacy, while Reichert had been avoiding him for reasons he didn't fully understand. The two rekindled their relationship, though it began to suffer somewhat after Reichert failed to talk down a suicide jumper and was briefly sent to Minot, North Dakota to consult with their police department on a case that seemed oddly related to this incident. Things came to a head when Reichert decided to come out to his family; his stepbrother and stepfather were merely surprised, but his mother reacted harshly, disowning him from the family and threatening to get him registered as a sex offender if he stayed in contact with Tim. In addition, later at the police station he lost his temper with another detective who was mocking an openly gay patrol officer, and ended up outing himself there as well; he told a stunned Matt that he'd asked his captain to follow through on a transfer to the Minot Police Department, where he'd been offered a position should he choose it. He explained that New York was no longer the city he knew, and the only thing still keeping him there was Matt--"And the thing that kills me is that that's not enough."
Reichert and Matt amicably parted ways and Reichert drove to his new life in North Dakota, moving into an apartment in a rundown building and neglecting to unpack most of his boxes of belongings, stacking them against the wall instead; he made the acquaintance of his timid across-the-hall neighbor, Tina Webber, by scaring off her overbearing ex-boyfriend, thus earning her gratitude. When his health began to decline, he was diagnosed with leukemia; reminded of his deceased sister, he put off treatment until he collapsed on the job. Chemotherapy was successful and the disease went into remission. He began a relationship with Doug Nyrkkanen, whose elaborate window displays had attracted Reichert's attention, reminding him of Macy's displays. Again, the relationship was relatively stable and normal, until Reichert and fellow Minot detective Max Kristeva witnessed a small passenger plane crash-land in a nearby field and helped evacuate the passengers; although no one was seriously injured, the incident jarred Reichert, and that night he attempted getting drunk at a city bar (the alcohol only made him cranky, rather than forgetful), and accompanied another man, Roy Bennet, back to his apartment. Neither of them enjoyed the encounter, during which Reichert had to keep convincing Bennet to hurt him, very much. When he returned to Doug, he became moody and argumentative, picking fights over trivial things and often storming out; he finally terminated the relationship without explanation, leaving Doug hurt and bewildered.
Reichert then went through a series of brief relationships and hookups, most of them dysfunctional and occasionally risky. He earned a reputation during this period and was even coerced into unwanted sexual activity more than once, though he never reported any of these incidents, and even met again with one of his hookups who assaulted him. For a time he was involved with Lakota tribal officer Joe Silvertree, enough so that it looked like a normal relationship on the outside, though as time went on it became more abusive on both sides, with the rather sadistic Silvertree often physically and sexually assaulting Reichert, and Reichert instigating fights and egging Silvertree on. (Although Silvertree was essentially faithful to Reichert, Reichert still frequently cheated on him with other men, and sometimes used this to start arguments although jealousy wasn't one of Silvertree's vices.) As with Doug, Reichert left Silvertree without explanation; Silvertree stopped by his apartment and assaulted him one final time before apparently losing all interest in him.
Reichert befriended Det. Michelle Rosedale when she visited from Rugby, North Dakota to consult the Minot detectives on a case; when the two got drunk, it resulted in a one-night stand where Rosedale ended up pregnant. Reichert promised to support and help out with whatever she should choose to do; he was somewhat saddened that Rosedale chose to terminate the pregnancy, even though he recognized that neither of them was in any shape to raise a child. Rosedale traveled to the clinic alone, but Reichert followed and drove her home afterward. This incident--as well as Reichert's enmity toward Rosedale's estranged brother, Jay Campion--put a strain on their friendship, and Reichert kept his distance for a while.
He resumed his habit of hooking up with strangers from bars until one of them, after they'd engaged in consensual sex, restrained him with his own handcuffs and then stabbed him over twenty times. Reichert briefly lapsed into unconsciousness, leading his attacker to assume he was dead; he uncuffed Reichert, tossed the handcuffs behind the headboard, and cleaned himself up before leaving. When Reichert regained consciousness, he tried to call 911 but was unsuccessful, so dragged himself through his apartment and out into the hall. He barely managed to claw at Tina's door just loud enough for her to investigate; she called 911 and then sat with him to try to stop the flow of blood and keep him awake. Det. Kristeva's partner, Det. Chance Devetko, was the first to arrive, having recognized Reichert's address on the call; he accompanied Reichert to the hospital and stayed for a while in the hopes of getting a statement, though Reichert was sedated and unable to communicate for the rest of the night. He made it through surgery, and a day or so later was lucid enough to give Devetko a rough statement; in the middle of it, though, his blood pressure suddenly dropped and he again had to be rushed into surgery, unconscious and bleeding internally. Devetko, who had formerly been rather critical of Reichert's lifestyle, felt guilty about this, blaming himself for questioning the other detective too soon. Eventually Reichert was able to give a full statement and description of his attacker, though he didn't know the man's name, no one else had witnessed the two with each other, and no DNA or fingerprint evidence had been left either on him or on the scene, so almost immediately the case went cold.
Concerned that Reichert's risky lifestyle would get him killed the next time, Kristeva sought a way to prevent this from happening; putting together clues gleaned from talking with Tina and looking through Reichert's packed boxes, he started calling all the "Matt Claasens" he could find in New York City until he located Reichert's ex. Matt didn't need much convincing that he might be the only person able to get through to Reichert and get him to change his ways; he immediately flew to North Dakota and joined Reichert at his bedside. When Reichert awoke he was understandably confused to find Matt there, until Matt explained the situation; Reichert then tried numerous methods to drive Matt off, admitting to his unsavory personal history and picking arguments much as he had with Silvertree. Matt patiently put up with it all and refused to give up and leave. Over time, realizing that Matt wasn't going anywhere, Reichert's volatile attitude slowly softened, and the two resumed their relationship; Matt even found them a better apartment and they moved in together. For the second time Matt began to notice the fluctuations in Reichert's mood, and suspected that he was dealing not only with the post-traumatic stress disorder he'd been diagnosed with, but with some sort of milder, undiagnosed bipolar disorder, such as cyclothymia. Since a diagnosis of such could threaten Reichert's career, Matt decided to help him deal with his mood swings on his own, and was able to keep him moderately stable. In addition, Reichert joined a support group for sexual compulsives to further try to keep his relationship with Matt on track.
While visiting a bar one night with Matt and several friends from the police department, Reichert recognized the man who had stabbed him, sitting at a nearby table with a few others; he ID'ed him to Det. Kristeva, who took the man, Walt Harris, in for questioning. Harris denied knowing Reichert at first, though eventually admitted that he'd accompanied him back to his place, albeit not for sex. At trial, he explained that he'd merely gone home with Reichert as Reichert was drunk and he was concerned about his wellbeing; when Reichert made a pass at him, he left. His insinuation that Reichert had possibly attempted to kill himself was shot down by the prosecution, though the lack of a criminal history or physical evidence against Harris, combined with multiple witnesses testifying about Reichert's risky sexual history (including Officer Silvertree, who had actually assaulted Reichert long after the end of their relationship and while Reichert was back with Matt, though this never came up during questioning), convinced the jury to find him not guilty of attempted murder. First numb, then infuriated, Reichert punched Harris on their way down the courthouse steps; Harris rejected his attorney's threats to sue Reichert and opted to let the matter drop. Det. Devetko took the opportunity to retrieve the tissue Harris had used to wipe the blood from his lip and keep it for possible future DNA comparison.
Reichert's leukemia relapsed; this time, a bone marrow donor was sought, but his mother refused to respond when contacted. Det. Kristeva again went looking, and managed to track down Reichert's biological father, who had long since remarried. He readily came to Minot to be tested, and was found to be a match; once Reichert learned of this, however, he grew angry and refused his father's offer of help, citing how he'd walked out on him and his mother before. Reichert's father insisted on donating his marrow anyway, but said he'd grant Reichert's request to leave. On his way out, he clarified that Reichert's mother had been the one to order him to leave, and added that she'd threatened to report him for molesting Reichert if he tried to stay in touch with him. Stunned by the similarity between this incident and his own outing, Reichert realized that his mother was mentally unstable and had possibly passed this on to him. He decided to accept his father's offer of help, and the transplant went successfully. He also decided to keep in contact with his father, now that he knew his "abandonment" hadn't been by his own choice.
After working solo for an extended period (most of the other police consider him "jinxed" in a way), Reichert was partnered with Det. Erica Tulie, whose sexual antics uncomfortably reminded him of his own history. Despite this, the two seem to make a decent pair, both being the only ones willing to put up with each other's banter and insults. When they found themselves called to the hospital one night to take a report on a stabbing victim, Reichert realized that, while justice might never come for him, perhaps it could come for someone else.
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