MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A flag draped casket was carried in between hundreds of officers, as they gave their final goodbyes.
Officer Verdell Smith made the ultimate sacrifice.
He was killed while serving his hometown.
“I was mad at God when I found out about my dad,” said Officer Smith’s daughter Friday. “I was so mad. I didn’t understand.”
His children were hurting.
They fought back tears as they remembered their father.
“I’ll never forget the day I walked out of my graduation ceremony and I saw him standing there waiting on me.I walked up to him and gave him the biggest hug I could,” said his son.
“We can’t take the place of your dad, but we are here to stand in the gap,” said Interim Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings.
Friends and Memphis Police offered the children and family their support.
“Your hurt is our hurt. We will never let you walk alone,” said Rallings.
They too felt their pain.
Officer Smith was a community hero.
He was a man they strived to be.
He mentored children and worked with ex convicts.
He served MPD 18 years and was in the Navy for 8.
“We are here to celebrate a real American hero.”
As fellow officers said today, it wasn’t how he died that made him a hero. It was how he lived.
“It’s hard but I want you all to know God’s time is perfect, and my daddy did everything he was supposed to before God took him away,” said his daughter crying.
