It’s etched in stone on the state’s Law Enforcement Memorial: “Their duty was to serve. Our duty is to remember.”
The memorial has the names of more than 300 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the state of Washington.
Friday, the Behind the Badge Foundation added three new names: Mason County Chief Deputy Fred Hickson, killed in 1944 when he fell down an elevator shaft, Kent Police Officer Derrick Focht, who died from a heart attack in April of 2017, and Pierce County Deputy Daniel McCartney, who was shot and killed responding to a call in January of 2018.
McCartney also received the state’s top honor, the Medal of Honor for Posthumous Service.
“It helps us remember,” said Daniel Gardner, McCartney’s brother-in-law.
Gardner said the family is grateful there’s a public place where McCartney is honored.
“(It) just gives our family a place to come. Gives the community somewhere to come, just to remember Daniel. Not only Daniel but law enforcement, fallen officers,” said Gardner.
Two Seattle police officers, Officer Hudson Kang and Officer Elizabeth Kennedy, received the Medal of Honor for Serious Injury. They were both shot during an armed robbery in Seattle in April 2017.
Five Seattle officers who responded to that call received the state’s Medal of Honor for Meritorious Conduct: Officers Xavier Gordillo, Christopher Myers, Joshua Vaaga, Brian Pritchard, and Christopher Bandel.
