If you know me, you'd expect this post, representing the letter "G" to be all about Gardening, my Granbaby Girl, Girlfriends, Garlic, Gadgets, Gallery, God and Grits. However, yesterday, I gathered with thousands along Highway 90, watching as the American Flag was hoisted high in the air awaiting what some estimated as a 500-700 vehicle funeral procession. I felt it only fitting to dedicate G to Officer Green.
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| Photos by Soulshine Gallery |
Mobile laid one of it's own to rest yesterday. Following the arrest and escape of a robbery suspect, our city sat glued for hours watching the news coverage unfold. Before the stand-off ended, one of Mobile's Finest had died after being brutally stabbed. Two families lost a son that day. The Green family lost a husband and father as well.
Thousands lined the streets as law enforcement vehicles from every county in Alabama and many outside of the State as well, led the procession. Hundreds from emergency medical and local fire departments stood at attention along the route. Flags from all fifty states bordered highway, carried by students of Blount High School where Steven Green graduated. It was an honor to be a part of this memorial. Officer Green left behind a wife and three young children.
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| 1975 - 2012 Follow "Remembering MPD Officer Steven Green on Facebook |
When I was a child, my daddy was a member of the police force in Andalusia, Alabama. One night my dad was on patrol with a fellow officer, who was also his best friend. They made one of those "routine" stops and his partner was shot and killed. I'm fortunate to still have my dad around. It could have ended badly.
Having shared that, it was unfathomable to me when shouting broke thru the silence of the crowd gathered to pay their respects as the procession passed. Two irritated drivers had gotten out of their vehicles and were loudly complaining, blowing car horns and blasting their radio. The woman proclaimed "it's a parade not a funeral" and that we were parked on a public street and should let them pass. The disrespect was sickening. I'll end with one word ... karma.
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| The disrespectful bystanders. |
:*(
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