MEMPHIS, Tenn. —Hundreds packed into Hope Presbyterian Church for the last time as they said goodbye to a fallen hero.
The bagpipes played as they stood side by side.
Hundreds of officers saluted their fallen brother.
“Why do we have to lose a hero for people to realize the value of our first responders?”
Officer Verdell Smith was struck and killed Saturday during a horrific downtown crime spree last weekend.
“On that faithful night Verdell was killed serving the citizens of Memphis,” said one of his coworkers.
“I never saw him angry. I never saw him frustrated, but every now and then he would just crack that big ole smile,” said Interim Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings.
Officer Smith was a Memphis Police Officer for 18 years, and he also worked with ex-convicts and mentored children.
It’s not only a loss for the family, but a loss for the entire city of Memphis as well.
“We spent a lot of time of time mentoring to the kids in our community in North Memphis. It was a passion,” said Smith’s former partner. “I spent ten year as a school officer and I quit. Verdell stepped up to me a said ‘Man you need to step up to the plate. Just because you’re not in the school doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact on these children.'”
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. “This man was truly a Memphis hero. He died in the midst of helping us, literally pushing people out of the way of a speeding car. Even outside of that he intervened in the lives of young people.”
“He lived the words of John Kennedy that were spoken at his funeral – ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.’ Very inspirational,” he added.
“It wasn’t how he died that made him a hero,” said Rallings. “It was how he lived.”
Officer Smith’s processional pulled into Memorial Park Cemetery around 3 p.m. this afternoon.
Officers lined the path in a final salute as his casket was brought in front of his family.
In what was one of the most emotional moments of the day, Interim Director Rallings, with a folded flag in hand, dropped down to one knee and presented it to Smith’s family.
He then stood back up and saluted.