During my weekend editor shift, one of my reporters filed this story.
http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/07/08/former-joliet-cop-killed-while-trying-to-help-woman-whose-car-had-rolled-over/avajm8f/
Not gonna lie, the jolt was huge.
Not because I've never read about tragedy...because I have.
Not because I don't love hero stories...because I do.
But because this was someone I had once seriously dated when he was a Joliet police officer and the news hit me in a profound way.
There are many reasons why people don't stay together, and this isn't the place to list them. Probably the biggest for us is because I was eighteen, and he was ready to get married and start a family, and I was not.
But I can tell you three things about this man.
One: He loved kids. And I'm happy to know he spent his life working with them.
Two: He was adventurous. Who spends their life fencing and teaching others to fence? He was also a scuba diver when I met him. Very cool stuff.
Three: He wanted to "go out" as a hero. That's why he became a U.S. Marine. That's why he became a Joliet police officer. And while some of the scenarios he spun about the way he hoped to be a hero sometimes brought an eye roll or two from me, the sincerity was undeniable.
So while I'm still having a hard time digesting the news, and although the way it happened was one scenario he never imagined, I can't deny he died the way he wanted to go. As a hero helping someone in need.
And, for this former U.S. Marine, on the Fourth of July no less.
Looks like God heard, and honored, the deepest wish of his heart.
http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/07/08/former-joliet-cop-killed-while-trying-to-help-woman-whose-car-had-rolled-over/avajm8f/
Not gonna lie, the jolt was huge.
Not because I've never read about tragedy...because I have.
Not because I don't love hero stories...because I do.
But because this was someone I had once seriously dated when he was a Joliet police officer and the news hit me in a profound way.
There are many reasons why people don't stay together, and this isn't the place to list them. Probably the biggest for us is because I was eighteen, and he was ready to get married and start a family, and I was not.
But I can tell you three things about this man.
One: He loved kids. And I'm happy to know he spent his life working with them.
Two: He was adventurous. Who spends their life fencing and teaching others to fence? He was also a scuba diver when I met him. Very cool stuff.
Three: He wanted to "go out" as a hero. That's why he became a U.S. Marine. That's why he became a Joliet police officer. And while some of the scenarios he spun about the way he hoped to be a hero sometimes brought an eye roll or two from me, the sincerity was undeniable.
So while I'm still having a hard time digesting the news, and although the way it happened was one scenario he never imagined, I can't deny he died the way he wanted to go. As a hero helping someone in need.
And, for this former U.S. Marine, on the Fourth of July no less.
Looks like God heard, and honored, the deepest wish of his heart.
