Joseph Brian Flaherty entered the world on September 8, 1957, at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, MN, the second child born to Joseph and Mary (Kelly) Flaherty. He was dragged kicking and screaming – wanting more – from this life on May 17, 2026, at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

From the day he was born, Joey was a charmer, bounding through life like a puppy at a party, petted and fêted, and usually abetted by everyone who wandered into his magical, hilarious, sideways-tilted world. People were Joey’s hobby, and he collected them enthusiastically, making friends-for-life on elevator rides or pumping gas or standing in line at the bait store. In his later years of failing health, even the most hurried and harried doctors would visibly slow their pace, unwind, and pause to visit and laugh with him.

Joey was educated at Frank B. Kellogg High School, Century College, Hamline University and the St. Paul Police Academy, graduating on Halloween night in 1980, with his best childhood pal, Nancy DiPerna. He went on to a stellar career as a SPPD cop, most notably working Frogtown for years with his lifelong friend, partner and blood brother, Pat Scott, with the duo — Squad 135 — becoming known as “cop’s cops.”  There was no door they wouldn't go through together.  He continued to work the various dark nooks and crannies of the City for 28 years, whether wearing the blue and the badge, the camo of the Critical Incident Response Team, an undercover do-rag and grubby T-shirt, or the uniform of the MTC PD. He earned his gold shield in 1996, and in 1999 married the love of his life, Eileen Larson. Together they grew their little family of five, first in the Chisago Lakes area and later St. Paul. But unknown to many as the years went by, Joey was silently succumbing to the tragically common plague of the thin blue line:  alcoholism. His life took a dramatic turn when he failed to make the turn, on his 50th birthday in 2007, in an un-helmeted bike crash into an oak tree.

Joey retired from the SPPD in 2008 following the accident, and  - thanks to the Hazelden Foundation -  undertook what, other than his children, would become his proudest achievement:  he embraced a joyful sobriety which he maintained the rest of his days. As a happy “friend of Bill,” he went on to mentor many as he moved into his Renaissance career as an Uber driver and later, retired bon vivant and raconteur at Meadow Woods Assisted Living in Bloomington and Summit Hill Senior Living in St. Paul. There he continued to entertain, provoke, dazzle, annoy, amuse, irritate and actively make and cherish new friends. To the very end, he remained deeply entertained, and enlivened by life and its endlessly fascinating cast of characters. The world is a little darker and chillier without Joey’s ready laugh, his love for all, and his sheer joie-de-vivre. Predeceased by infant son Joey Bryn, he is survived by his children Caitlin (Zack) and Aidan, stepdaughter Megan, (Trevor) grandsons Christopher, Wyatt, and Timothy, former wife Eileen, sister Tara and brother-in-law Joe Guy, his brothers and sisters in blue and all the rest of the world who knew and loved him. 

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Mass of Christian Burial 11:00 am Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at the Church of St. Odilia, 3495 N. Victoria St., Shoreview. Visitation at the church from 10:00 - 11:00 am Tuesday.  Reception to follow at 1:00 p.m. at the B-Dale Club, 2100 Dale St. No., Roseville, MN  Memorials to the family preferred in lieu of flowers.