Thousands Attend Atlanta Officers' Memorials
Two Atlanta Police officers were remembered for their love of flying and devotion to their families during memorial services on Friday and Saturday.
Atlanta Police Officers Shawn Smiley (left) and Richard Halford.
Two Atlanta Police officers were remembered for their love of flying and devotion to their families during memorial services on Friday and Saturday.
"Your dad was a real and actual hero, not a microwave hero, not a made-up hero," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Saturday to Smiley's three children, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He gets a call and he goes with his colleague, Officer Halford, and they don't even blink. And they get in a machine that's not even supposed to leave the ground, they defy gravity, and they go to find a 9-year-old child, and in the process they sacrifice their own life."
Smiley died Nov. 3 when the helicopter he and Richard J. Halford were using to search for a missing boy crashed after striking a power pole.
Nearly 2,000 people attended Officer Halford's memorial service on Friday where the officer was remembered as a consummate professional, doting father, and skilled pilot, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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