Fallen Colorado Sheriff's Deputy Laid to Rest

Feb. 16, 2016
More than 1,500 law enforcement officers, friends and family members filled Canyon View Vineyard Church Monday to say their final goodbyes to Mesa County Deputy Derek Geer.

More than 1,500 law enforcement officers, friends and family members filled Canyon View Vineyard Church Monday to say their final goodbyes to a fallen Colorado deputy.

Mesa County Deputy Derek Geer was gravely wounded on Feb. 8 while responding to a call of an armed man in the Pear Park area and was taken off of life support after his organs were donated two days later.

Geer was remembered as a happy, loyal person and a good worker, according to The Daily Sentinel.

"Derek was an absolute blessing. He was my very best friend. The one who got my humor and my ultimate protector … When the kids came along, he was a naturally good, doting and loving father. Ian and Macey meant the world to him," Geer's wife, Kate, wrote in a letter read by the Rev. Kirk Yamaguchi during the service.

"There are sheep. There are wolves. I am the sheepdog," Yamaguchi recited Geer's favorite law enforcement saying to mourners. "His goal is not to hurt anyone. Just keep the flock safe."

In addition to his job as deputy, Geer took on the task of being a victim's advocate.

"It was his way of doing good and helping people deal with difficult times in their lives," Mesa County Sheriff Matt Lewis said. "Derek was a hero in this community and stopped at nothing to give of himself for others. He stopped at nothing to actually fix issues, not just address them whatever the immediate symptom was."

Geer had been a member of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office for 15 years, providing security at the Mesa County Justice Center, working in the civil division and working on patrol.

"I understand that this loss has shaken our community. I understand that our very sense of safety and security has been threatened," Lewis said. "Derek will live in our hearts and memories forever."

He added that while the loss of Geer has shaken the sheriff's office, it has also brought the agency and the community closer.

There has been an overwhelming ammount of support pouring into the Mesa County Sheriff's Office from members of the community. People have come forward offering up skills, cash and prayers. Some have even offered to pay for the funeral service and other offered to direct traffic so that officers could attend the service.

"People want to do something and we want to let them as much as we can," Grand Junction police spokeswoman Heidi Davidson told the newspaper. "There's something about feeling wounded as a community that seems to band us together.”

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