TERRE HAUTE, Indiana -- Terre Haute Police Patrolman Robert Shawn “Rob” Pitts was laid to rest Wednesday afternoon, capping a nearly week-long outpouring of sympathy and support for the fallen officer, his family and the police department.
As the funeral at Hulman Center gave way to the procession and subsequent graveside service, more than 1,000 police officers, deputies, family members and friends gathered to say goodbye to Pitts at Center Ridge Cemetery in Sullivan, Indiana.
Hundreds of police cruisers, trucks and SUVs filed into the cemetery ahead of Pitts’ funeral coach, making sure to be in formation before Pitts and his family arrived.
A hush fell over the site as the group waited, a stillness finally broken by the distant sound of bagpipes from the combined pipe and drum ensemble that met the coach at the cemetery entrance.
Minutes later, standards carried by the walking and color guards made their way to the site, followed by a “Thin Blue Line” flag carried by a member of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.
Boone County Sheriff’s Office lost one of its own two months ago when Deputy Jacob Pickett was killed as he chased a fleeing man in Lebanon, Indiana.
The flag was followed by a riderless horse with backward boots, symbolic of a fallen officer, and finally the pipe ensemble and funeral coach.
Members of the Terre Haute Police Department Honor Guard removed Pitts’ casket and carried it to its place of final rest.
A brief committal was performed before Pitts was honored with a rifle volley from the Indiana State Police Honor Guard.
Kevin Getz, a member of the ISP Honor Guard, said police funerals never get easier, but a sense of duty and honor help him through the proceedings.
“To learn of a death of a fellow officer is a gut punch,” Getz said. “He was a member of our brotherhood. It’s somebody who swore to protect his community and it’s difficult at certain times in the service. But you get through it.”
One of those “difficult moments” came after the rifle volley when THPD Honor Guard members flanked Pitts’ flag-draped casket to perform the flag folding and presentation.
As members of the guard lifted and pulled taut the flag, a single piper began playing “Amazing Grace,” a moment that wet the ground more than the on-again, off-again rain could ever hope to.
The tri-corner flag was presented to THPD Chief John Plasse, who then presented the flag and words of encouragement to members of Pitts’ family.
Other officers were then given the opportunity to pay their respects to officer Pitts by dropping a white carnation on his casket.
White carnations are used to represent the purity of service an officer gives to his community. Each flower was also flecked with red paint to symbolize the blood sacrifice they make for their community.
Getz said it’s easy for law enforcement from around the state to feel sorrow when they reflect on the sacrifice their fellow officer made, but added the sorrow should be shared with the family who is now without a father, brother and son.
“This ceremony is temporary for most of us,” Getz said. “His family has to live with this from here on out. When we’re done with this detail, I’ll strip down my honor guard uniform, clean everything and go right back to work. I’ll go right back to being with my family and going to work.
“They have to be resigned with the fact that a father, a brother, a child is not coming home. And that’s the hardest thing, knowing that for that family Christmases aren’t the same, holidays, birthdays, nothing is the same. Their world has been turned upside down.”
But no matter how difficult it can be to travel the state and see families and lives torn apart by senseless violence, Getz said he’ll be there as long as they’ll have him.
“I feel that, intrinsically, I have a duty to honor this man and honor this family and honor this community that lost an important part,” Getz said. “Terre Haute lost officer [Brent] Long and that took a long time to get over. And just when you think you’re over it, you lose another one.
“And that’s why I do it. These men and women have sacrificed everything to make their communities safe.”
Reporter Alex Modesitt can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TribStarAlex.
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