Patrol door in D.C. as PSPD honors Zerebny and Vega for Police Week
The Palm Springs Police Department traveled to Washington, D.C., to honor fallen officers for Police Week.
“To see the huge number of police officers here honoring not only (Jose ‘Gil’ Vega) and Lesley (Zerebny) but the other police officers that have given their lives and years and the past for the job we do,” Joe Cook of the Palm Springs Police Officers Association said.
Watch: Memorial for our fallen Palm Springs police officers
We were there wWatch: Memorial for our fallen Palm Springs police officershen officers headed to the airport with the car door in hand.
A once police patrol car door will now sit as a piece of law enforcement history. The Palm Springs Police Department is paying tribute to two of their fallen officers by marking their ultimate sacrifice.
“These were two of my fellow officers that it could’ve very well have been me out there and they would have done the same thing for me,” Cook said.
More than 12 police officers from the department are in Washington, D.C., along with thousands of police officers from other areas. They are on a patrol to honor 143 fallen officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2016.
“Every year, they’ll keep continuing to add names to the wall and hopefully in the years to come we’ll see fewer and fewer names but that’s one of the unfortunate things about the wall that we have to accept,” Cook said.
The Palm Springs Police department lost a total of four officers since its creation. At the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, the department not only got to see the names of Zerebny and Vega but reconnected with two fallen department officers from the 60’s, Gale Eldridge and Lyle Larrabee. Cook said it will be an honor to be there for those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
“In future years we’ll be able to see it up on the wall there knowing that we brought this here to honor our officers and show them that we appreciate the sacrifices they made for us and that we’re not going to forget them,” Cook said.
Saturday morning, Cook along with other officers placed the door by both fallen officers names.
You can watch them as they placed the door live on the Palm Springs Police Officers’ Association Facebook page.
Check out this gallery of photos of the door below in Washington D.C., courtesy of Megan Terlecky.
