Fallen NC Officers Honored In National Police Week Ceremonies

WASHINGTON, DC — The names of nearly 200 local, state and federal police officers and agents who died in the line of duty in 2017 were read Tuesday in the 37th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service. They include five police officers from North Carolina.

The ceremony in Washington, D.C., is part of a week full of activities for National Police Week, which began Sunday and continues through Saturday, May 19. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.

Tuesday’s two-hour commemoration begins at 11 a.m. near the west front of the U.S. Capitol. It includes both a wreath-laying ceremony and a memorial service.

Officers from North Carolina remembered include:

• Correctional officer Meggan Callahan, 29,died April 26, 2017 when she was assaulted while attempting to put out a fire inside Bertie Correctional Institution. An inmate, who had set the fire, hit her in the head with the extinguisher and she died about an hour later, according to Officer Down Memorial Page.
• Correctional officer Veronica Darden, 50, died Oct. 12, 2017 after she was attacked by prisoners wielding hammers and scissors in the Pasquotank Correctional Institute’s sewing plant as they attempted to escape.
• Major Jay Memmelaar Jr., a 25-year veteran of the Goldsboro Police Department, had a heart attack during his department’s physical fitness program and died Feb. 16, 2017.
• Correctional Officer Wendy Shannon was attacked by prisoners wielding hammers and scissors in the Pasquotank Correctional Institute’s sewing plant as they attempted to escape. She died Oct. 30, 2017.
• Correctional Officer Justin Smith, 35, was also attacked in the Pasquotank Correctional Institute attempted prison break. He died Oct. 12, 2017

Between 25,000 and 40,000 people from police departments across the country and agencies around the world take part in National Police Week activities in Washington, D.C.

Image: In this 2017 file photo, the Phoenix Police Department honor guard is the first department to stand watch during the 'Standing Watch for the Fallen' flag ceremony at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)