MEMPHIS, Tenn. — “He was a great guy. He really was.”
This is how Mike Maharrey remembers his friend Sean Bolton.
People all across the country are rallying around the Memphis Police Department and Officer Bolton’s family. Condolences are coming from law enforcement officers from Los Angeles to New York, and even the White House has reached out.
In Memphis, friends are remembering a man who not only made the ultimate sacrifice Saturday night but who spent his entire life serving and protecting others.
“He was a beast on the field,” Maharrey said. “You would never have been able to tell from his shyness and the way he carried himself.”
The two were teammates at White Station High School, close friends both on and off the field.
“AP everything as far as academics,” Maharrey said. “Just a gentle soul.”
He said when he heard Bolton was the officer shot and killed after stumbling across a drug deal Saturday night, he was shocked.
“It’s terrible, especially with all the things we’ve got going on in the world today, losing someone like that.”
Officer Bolton joined the Memphis Police Department in October 2010. Before that, he served as a Marine in Iraq.
The veteran was killed in his own community over less than 2 grams of marijuana, something many in the community are struggling to come to grips with.
While the shooting is something Maharrey said he may never truly understand, he said he will do his best to honor his friend’s memory.
“Doing something that you get paid to do, your job, you`ve got to go out and protect the citizens and a senseless act like that, I mean, it`s just terrible.”
