Jan 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 1

“Blessed are the

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” 2020 TEXAS OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY Wingert closed his eulogy with the simple sentence that began it: “They didn’t make it.” “Those are the words that we’ll never forget,” he said. “But I stand here before you today to argue that statement … because Officer Susan Farrell and Officer Carlos Puente-Morales did make it. And now they sit in God’s house, and they watch over us, and they guide us, and they will for all of our days.” He closed with a quote from Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, one of the Beatitudes, from Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Wingert gathered his crumpled, tightly rolled notes and exited the podium before the torrent of emotion clearly bubbling beneath the surface burst forth on the pulpit. The chief sat down, emotionally and physically spent. Yet a day later, somehow, he had to find the strength to stand again to honor another fallen officer. This scene, funerals for hundreds of officers from across the country, played out week after week, year after year. On average almost one a day for the past two years. And police chiefs just like Chief Dana Wingert had to tell the surviving families that their son or daughter, husband or wife, mother or father, that “I’m sorry, they didn’t make it.” Police Officer Nicholas Lee Reyna Deputy Sheriff John Andrew Rhoden Deputy Sheriff Cornelius B. Anderson Police Officer Alan Daniel McCollum Police Officer Jason Michael Knox Police Officer Sheena Dae Yarbrough-Powell Deputy Sheriff Richard E. Whitten Deputy Constable Caleb Daniel Rule Investigator Lemuel Delray Bruce Senior Deputy Christopher Korzilius Police Officer Ismael Z. Chavez Sergeant Harold Lloyd Preston Deputy Senior Deputy Sheriff Christopher Richard E. Whitten Korzilius Police Officer Edelmiro Garza, Jr. Sergeant Sean Sebastian Rios ** All Photos provided by OPMP.ORG WEBSITE Copyrighted ©The Officer Down Memorial Page 42 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 43 42 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 43