Blue light ceremony honors fallen officers
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies will pay tribute to law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty at their annual Blue Light Ceremony in La Quinta tonight.
The ceremony, which pays tribute to officers dating to 1893, is set for 6 p.m. at La Quinta City Hall, 78-495 Calle Tampico.
Another ceremony is scheduled Dec. 15 at the county administrative center in Riverside.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has had 21 deputies killed in the line of duty since 1895, the most recent being Manuel Villegas, who was killed in a head-on collision March 19, 2007. The most recent law enforcement death in the Coachella Valley was Cathedral City Police Officer Jermaine
Gibson, who was killed in a high-speed chase and crash on South Palm Canyon Drive on March 18, 2011.
More recently in Riverside, Riverside Police Officer Michael Crain was killed by rogue former Los Angeles police Officer Christopher Dorner Feb. 7, 2013.
Reservations may be made by calling Nicole Wilkinson at (951) 955-2469, or emailing her at nicole.wilkinson@riversidesheriff.org.
Blue Light ceremonies started in Philadelphia in 1988 when the mother-in-law of Officer Danny Gleason, who was killed in a car wreck, honored him by placing a blue light in her window during the holiday season.
