SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
No Honor Guard for King County deputy who died of COVID?
Oct 25, 2021, 5:39 PM
(Photo courtesy of KCSO)
(Photo courtesy of KCSO)
A 35-year-old deputy has died from complications due to COVID-19, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
The office said he had been battling the virus for several weeks. It did not confirm if the deputy had been vaccinated.
The deputy was a 6-year-member of the sheriff’s office, and a veteran who had served in both the Army and Navy.
He was a husband and a father.
The Dori Monson Show has confirmed that the sheriff’s office has not approved the typical escort from the Honor Guard — only presence for the memorial service. However, some Honor Guard officers showed up unauthorized on Sunday to escort the deputy’s body from the hospital to the morgue.
“As of right now, (Sheriff) Mitzi Johanknecht is not even allowing it to be called a line of duty death and that’s a huge difference for the family and for his four children because you get certain benefits if it’s a line of duty death,” Dori told KIRO Radio. “We don’t know why.”
“The family reached out to us because they just want their loved one to have the same sort of honor and tradition as everybody else.”
