Police at kindergarten graduation: A few hundred police officers showed up for the kindergarten graduation ceremony for the daughter of an officer who was killed in the line of duty.
Tatum Raetz, 5, was cheered on by the officers on Wednesday during the graduation in Phoenix.
Her father, Daryl Raetz, was killed by a car while carrying out a DUI arrest.
Police Officer Keith Garn told CBS-5 TV that the officers were “in proxy for Daryl and to let her know that we’re here for her.”
Phoenix Officer Sara Garza said that the support “is wonderful.”
“It’s uplifting. It’s just the most important thing that we can do. We honor his memory, but we celebrate and we’re there with his family,” she said.
Officers lined the sidewalk near the school and congratulated the child as she walked with her mother.
“We tried to keep this small. We tried to keep this to Daryl’s squad and his precinct,” Officer James Holmes told AZFamily.com. “But the word got out that this was happening and it went viral within the department and there was absolutely no way that you could keep officers who could be here away from here. they came, even with their families.”
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