A Spokane-based nonprofit that pays tribute to fallen first responders honored slain Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Jeremy Brown on Thursday, marking the group's fifth stop on its tour across the country.
Shortly after noon, officers and Brown's loved ones waited for the procession, known as the End of Watch Ride to Remember, to arrive at The Gathering Place church in Hazel Dell.
Law enforcement, both in and out of uniform, gathered to memorialize the detective, who was killed July 23 during an undercover firearms trafficking sting in east Vancouver. Some wore shirts with imagery of a lion and Brown's initials.
Six motorcycles, bedecked in thin blue line flags and other police imagery, led a 40-foot trailer adorned with the faces of the hundreds of law enforcement personnel who died last year. Brown's wife, Jill, used a step stool to place a blue flower beside her husband's smiling photo.
JC Shah, the founder of Beyond the Call of Duty, which hosts the annual memorial ride, told the officers gathered outside of the church that they are heroes and reminded them they are loved.
The organization began its ride Wednesday in Spokane and will continue this week south into California, making stops along the way in cities where officers died in 2021. The group will stop at 265 departments across 43 states, before returning to Spokane on Aug. 18.
