Slain California deputy honored with 50-mile procession

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of people lined the streets and freeway overpasses during a 50-mile procession in honor of a slain Southern California deputy who was laid to rest Saturday.

Riverside County Sheriff deputy Darnell Calhoun, 30, was fatally shot on Jan. 13 in the city of Lake Elsinore after responding to a call about a domestic disturbance. He was killed just two weeks after another deputy in the department was slain in the line of duty.

The man suspected in Calhoun’s killing remained hospitalized in critical condition after a gunbattle that wounded another deputy.

Calhoun’s casket was draped in an American flag and enlarged photos of him in uniform were featured on the stage of the packed auditorium where a memorial was held.

Family, friends, and colleagues from the Riverside Sheriff’s Department and the San Diego Police Department, where Calhoun began his law enforcement career, remembered him as someone who loved his family and serving his community.

Danny Young, a retired lieutenant from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and a Calhoun family friend, said he knew Calhoun since he was 10.

“What he’s been most consistently in his life has been his willingness to serve. … He willingly went out daily to serve mankind,” Young said, the Press Enterprise reported. “He put service above self as the motto reads on the side of his patrol car.”

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, who is a reserve police officer in South Florida, offered condolences in a short recorded video played on the screen before a montage of photos from Calhoun’s life and career.

The nonprofit Tunnel of Towers Foundation, which provides homes for the families of first responders and veteran families, gave Calhoun’s widow, Vanessa, who is pregnant with their third child, a mortgage-free home.