Photo Gallery
Honoring fallen law enforcement officers
Also read…
* Greeson: Honor law enforcement agents today and every day
Local law enforcement officers gathered in downtown Chattanooga on Tuesday to remember 52 regional officers who died in the line of duty.
Under cloudy skies that threatened rain, about 200 officers and civilians circled the Law Enforcement Memorial on Market Street for the somber ceremony.
G.A. Bennett, director of support services at the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, read the names, ranks, departments and dates of death for each of the fallen officers, beginning in 1879 and continuing through 2015.
With each name, a current law enforcement officer at the fallen officer’s agency walked up to the memorial, laid a rose and saluted. Some of the saluting officers were accompanied by fallen officers’ surviving family members.
“It’s honorable and respectful for these fallen people,” said Adam Smartt, a grandson to Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office deputy Lyle Sneed, who was killed in a traffic accident while responding to a fire in 1989 when he was 38. Smartt laid a rose at the memorial.
The law enforcement agencies added a new name to the list of fallen officers this year: Hamilton County Park Ranger James Wallen, 54, who died on Oct. 25, 2015. Wallen was severely injured in a car accident while on duty on June 3, 1989.
His vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer as he attempted to make a U-turn on Amnicola Highway, according to newspaper archives. He survived the accident but suffered brain damage, and lived the rest of his life in a health care facility.
He died in October from complications related to the injuries he sustained in the crash, according to the sheriff’s department.
“We remember today those who laid down their lives,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Tim White, who gave the ceremony’s keynote address. “These families know what it is like to go to bed at night knowing their law enforcement officer is gone, protecting them, so others may sleep safely.”
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas. Follow @ShellyBradbury.