Police officer funeral

Jpshostr · June 28, 2001

Last weekend a local state police man was killed by a hit and run driver during a safety stop. Today was his funeral, which brought cops in from all over. Since the town where the funeral was at is about five miles east of here, all the cars got off at the interstate exit next to my house, so I saw all of them go by. Amazing, cars from TN, WI, IA, all of IL, and then some came. They were expecting about 500 officers to show up, but the news estimated 1000 were there. What sent shivers down my spine was the procession to the burial from the funeral in a local gym. A solid line of cop cars with all their lights on stretched about three miles long. Just something about that that was creepy. The guy was a local farmer when he wasn't out on duty, so the whole area was kind of in shock the way he was killed while on duty.

Shaners · June 28, 2001

we had a turn-out here that was similar for a couple of vulonteer firefighters that died at a fire... It is a very strong fraternity of guys and gals that do work like that...

LT · June 28, 2001

The funerals can really put a lump in your throat. The fraternity of fire fighters and law enforcement officers is important.

NewbieZ71 · June 29, 2001

You are right LT, its hard to explain the brotherhood to others who are not LE or FF's.....I'm a former LE and an officers death in the line of duty crossed all lines and borders in the showing of sympathy and loss.

General Lee 01 · July 1, 2001

One of the Servicemen killed on the U.S.S. Cole was in my Boy Scout troop. We all went to a memorial for him. Almost the whole town where this Man grew up came to the service. He served on the Fire Co. before he went into service so the whole Fire company came too.

The Beav · July 2, 2001

When you risk your lives together a unique bond is formed. I, too, watched the procession Shaners is referring to. Really something to see all the fire vehicles from all over the area with their lights wrapped in black. Really makes you think.

Elwood · July 3, 2001

A Deputy here was shot and killed by a prisoner while doing the paper work on him about nine months ago. The guy was brought in for DUI and when the officer got up to answer a phone call he got out a gun......when the officer came back he shot him. It was all on tape, the officer begged for his life and told him he'd let him go and he shot him anyway, at point blank range.

Officers from all over the state came down to help with the manhunt and the road checks, many of them on their own time. Needless to say when they found him in the woods three or four days later, he had a "rough trip" out of the woods....I guess he must have fallen down a few times on the way out(wink wink). The gathering outside the courthouse when they brought him in was amazing. And their were so many officers at the funeral no one but family could even get in.

It's times like this that make me realize that our law enforcment officers don't get the credit they deserve. Yeah we may get annoyed with the speeding tickets and stuff like that, but they are out there trying to protect us, and they risk their lives everyday to try to keep the rest of us safe.

I think we should all show more appreciation to our law enforcment officers, firefighters, and military service people who risk their lives on a daily basis so we can be safe.

DigUout · July 3, 2001

In November of '93, the sherriff here was shot and killed at an ID checkpost, by the 2 bankrobbers they were looking for. They made it into the mountains and it was 2 weeks before they were found dead, murder/suicide. Because our town is so small, 300 people, and the fugitives were at large so long it made national news and shows like America's Most Wanted, Hard Copy, etc. covered it. It really turned the town upside down because he was so popular and had just been elected a few weeks earlier. His son moved here shortly thereafter and is now one of my closest friends and I recently stood up with him at his wedding. Even though these guys know the risk of their chosen professions, losses like that are impossible to understand and leave families that never really heal.