LAKELAND -- Three law enforcement officers are being laid to rest this week, killed not by violence, but by a deadly pandemic.
Monday, Polk sheriff's deputies attended a service at Victory Church in Lakeland for Deputy Christopher Broadhead, who died of COVID-19 in a local hospital at the age of 32. His best friend, Jacob Wren, remembered Broadhead as "being extremely present... never being too distracted to make sure you knew that he genuinely cared about you." Sheriff Grady Judd said that if Broadhead were alive and in the church, he'd be telling people to "get the vaccine." Judd scheduled a vaccine clinic at the church after the service, to encourage deputies to get the shot. Broadhead's family haven't said whether or not he was vaccinated.
St. Petersburg police are holding a vaccination clinic Tuesday morning from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Coliseum near downtown, before the 1 p.m. services for Officer Michael Weiskopf. The veteran traffic officer died last week of COVID at age 52. Chief Anthony Holloway says his death could have been prevented with the vaccine. This traffic note: 4th Avenue North will be closed between 8th Street North and 5th Street North, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thursday, the funeral for Manatee Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Clark will take place at Simmons Loop Baptist Church in Riverview.
Photo: Getty Images (Victory Church, 2006)