RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Law enforcement agencies in Wake County are honoring the lives of those lost in the line of duty.
Monday, they held a memorial service in remembrance of 20 individuals who lost their lives in the line of duty over the past 100 years.
Those honored included individuals from the Raleigh Police Department, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the Knightdale Police Department, the Wake Forest Police Department, and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Knightdale Police officer Ryan Hayworth was just one of the names recognized.
Hayworth died in 2021 after his patrol car was hit by a suspected drunk driver on Interstate-540.
Raleigh Neurosurgical Clinic’s senior Neurosurgeon Dr. Timothy B. Garner was the event’s keynote speaker.
“Law enforcement is the lynchpin of an organized society. Government’s primary purpose and its highest priority, after all, is protection of the people and their property,” said Garner.
The event also included a 21-gun salute and the retiring of the colors.