Dozens of law enforcement personnel and their K-9 officers filed past U.S. Forest Service Officer Jason Crisp’s casket inside the McDowell High School gymnasium on a cold, damp Monday afternoon, reports the Charlotte Observer.
The men and women gave a sharp, somber salute as they swept by, the German shepherds whimpering and tugging at their partners’ leashes. Fifteen feet away, Crisp’s widow, Amanda, started to weep softly, as Crisp’s best friend and co-worker Officer Wade Keener comforted her.
But more than anything else, there was green: Hundreds of U.S. Forest Service employees and officers dressed in their field uniforms, there to pay respect to Crisp, 38, who was killed last week along with his service dog, Maros, while approaching a homicide suspect in Burke County.
The Forest Service said Maros was cremated and was to be buried with his partner. Their remains were transported from Westmoreland Funeral Home to the school during a processional that brought traffic to a halt and saw 2 1/2 miles of Marion streets lined with people braving the raw weather to pay their respects. Fire engines on opposite sides of U.S. 70 extended their ladders to display a massive American flag that the procession passed under.
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