Danville Police hold memorial for fallen peace officers
Six officers have died in Danville during the line of duty, five from the Department and one from the Danville Sheriff's Office.
'Like every officer who serves today, each of the fallen from our ranks prepared to go to work that day, putting on the uniform and pinning on the badge, not knowing what opportunities, challenges, or risks they may face while they went about their duty to serve our community,' Chief Chris Wiles said.
During the service, there was a rose placed in memory of each person's life, along with a ringing of a bell in their honor. The Danville Police Department Honor Guard also played taps with a benediction from Police Chaplain Jeff Lynch.
John Clair named new chief of Blacksburg Police Department
The Police stated the following lives lost in the line of duty in Danville:
On Saturday, March 7, 1896, a prisoner shot and killed Deputy Sergeant William A. Cook while attempting to escape from the city jail. The pistol used was smuggled into the jail. Cook was killed four days before his 55th birthday.
On Friday, Oct. 12, 1917, Officer William H. McCray, a 26-year veteran, was shot and killed while entering the home of a barricaded person. The male suspect wounded other officers before ultimately being killed by law enforcement officials.
On Tuesday, June 14, 1921, Officer John P. Jones was just six months into his career when he was shot and killed by a shotgun rigged to the door of a local store. While on night shift, Jones noticed the door was partially open and went to investigate. When he opened the door, he was struck by the shotgun blast that the store owner had set to catch burglars.
On Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, Officer Courtney Lamont Dickerson was responding to an alarm call when he was involved in a motor vehicle crash that took his life. He was ejected from the car and died later that night. He was one year into his career.
On Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, Officer Bonnie Jones, a 17-year veteran, died after contracting COVID-19 while working. Officer Jones was one of many peace officers to succumb to COVID-19 in the United States as a result of their job, which required face-to-face interaction with the community while most were still in quarantine.
May 15 was proclaimed as National Peace Officers Memorial Day by President Kennedy in 1962 to recognize all of the fallen officers who lost their lives protecting others on the job.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump's federal law-enforcement crackdown ripples through DC neighborhoods
WASHINGTON (AP) — The main drag in Washington's Columbia Heights neighborhood is typically crammed with people peddling pupusas, fresh fruit, souvenirs and clothing. On Tuesday, though, things felt different: The white tents that bulge with food and merchandise were scarcer than usual. 'Everything has stopped over the last week,' said Yassin Yahyaoui, who sells jewelry and glass figurines. Most of his customers and fellow vendors, he said, have 'just disappeared' — particularly if they speak Spanish. The abnormally quiet street was one of many pieces of evidence showing how President Donald Trump 's decision to flood the nation's capital with federal law enforcement and immigration agents has rippled through the city. While troop deployments and foot patrols in downtown areas and around the National Mall have gotten the most attention, life in historically diverse neighborhoods like Columbia Heights is being reshaped as well. The White House has credited Donald Trump's crackdown with hundreds of arrests, while local officials have criticized the aggressive intervention in the city's affairs. The confrontation escalated on Tuesday as the top federal prosecutor in D.C. opened an investigation into whether police officials have falsified crime data, according to a person familiar with the situation who wasn't authorized to comment publicly. The probe could be used to bolster Trump's claims that the city is suffering from a 'crime emergency' despite statistics showing improvements. The mayor's office and the police department declined to comment. Stops are visible across the city Blocks away from where Yahyaoui had set up shop, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police stopped a moped driver delivering pizza. The agents drove unmarked cars and wore tactical vests; one covered his face with a green balaclava. They questioned the driver and required him to present documentation relating to his employment and legal residency status. No arrest was made. The White House said there have been 450 arrests since Aug. 7, when the federal operation began. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement and the president signed an executive order on Aug. 11 to put the police department under federal control for 30 days; extending that would require congressional approval. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump was 'unapologetically standing up for the safety of law-abiding American citizens.' Glorida Gomez, who has been working a fruit stand in Columbia Heights for more than a decade, said business is worse now than during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said many vendors stopped coming because they were afraid of interacting with federal agents. 'We need more humanity on that part of the government. Remember that these are people being affected,' she said. 'The government is supposed to protect members of the community, not attack or discriminate against them.' Reina Sosa, another vendor, said people are less willing to spend money. 'They're saving it in case something happens,' she said, like getting detained by immigration enforcement. Bystanders have captured some of the arrests on video. On Saturday morning, Christian Enrique Carias Torres was detained in another part of the city during a scuffle with ICE agents, and the footage ricocheted around social media. An FBI agent's affidavit said Carias Torres kicked one of the agents in the leg and another was injured when he fell during the struggle and struck his head on the pavement. A stun gun was used to subdue Carias Torres, who was charged Tuesday with resisting arrest. An alphabet soup of federal agencies have been circulating in the city. In the Petworth neighborhood, roughly 20 officers from the FBI, Homeland Security, Park Police and U.S. Marshals descended on an apartment building on Tuesday morning. A man extended his hands out a window while officers cuffed him. Yanna Stelle, 19, who witnessed the incident, said she heard the chatter from walkie talkies as officers moved through the hallways. 'That was too many police first thing in the morning — especially for them to just be doing a warrant," she said. More National Guard troops from other states are slated to arrive From his actions and remarks, Trump seems interested in ratcheting up the pressure. His administration has asked Republican-led states to send more National Guard troops. Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio have agreed to deploy a total of 1,100 troops to the city, on top of the 800 from the D.C.-based National Guard. Resistance to that notion is starting to surface, both on the streets and in Congress. On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo of California introduced a bill that would require a report outlining the cost of any National Guard deployment unrelated to a natural disaster, as well as its legal basis. It would also require reporting on any Guard interactions with civilians and other aspects of the operation. Forty four Democrats have signed on in support, including Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives. While the measure stands little chance of passing while Republicans control the chamber, it's a sign of a wider Democratic response to Trump's unprecedented moves in Washington. 'Are L.A. and D.C. a test run for a broader authoritarian takeover of local communities?" Liccardo asked. He added that the country's founders were suspicious of "executive control of standing armies.' Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said that 'Democrats continue to side with criminals over law abiding Americans." What kind of assistance will be offered? It's unclear what kind of help the National Guard will be able to provide when it comes to crime. 'The fact of the matter is that the National Guard are not law-enforcement trained, and they're not going into places where they would be engaged in law enforcement activity," said Jeff Asher, a crime analyst and consultant at AH Datalytics. 'So I don't know that it's fair to expect much of it.' Trump declared in a social media post that his initiative has transformed Washington from 'the most unsafe 'city' in the United States' to 'perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!' The number of crimes reported in D.C. did drop by about 8% this week as compared to the week before, according to Metropolitan Police data. There was some variation within that data, with crimes like robberies and car thefts declining while burglaries increased a bit and homicides remained steady. Still, a week is a small sample size — far from enough time for data to show meaningful shifts, Asher said. Referring to the month-long period that D.C.'s home rule law allows the president to exert control over the police department, he said: 'I think 30 days is too short of a period to really say anything." ___ Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Alanna Durkin Richer, Jacquelyn Martin and Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
5 hours ago
- The Hill
Woman charged with threatening Trump's life
An Indiana woman accused of posting threatening messages about President Trump on social media is facing federal criminal charges after prosecutors say she admitted to Secret Service officers that she was set on 'killing' Trump to 'avenge' lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nathalie Rose Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Ind., was arrested during a protest event in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and faces charges of threats against the president, as well as transmitting threats across state lines, court documents show. Jones was already on the Secret Service's radar because of a series of posts she had made on Instagram and Facebook before she was interviewed and arrested in D.C., according to court records. In one Facebook post dated Aug. 6 and included in the court filing, Jones allegedly wrote that she 'literally told FBI in five states today that I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea.' According to a court filing, Jones agreed to speak with law enforcement on Friday about the messages she had posted online. Authorities said she told them that she believed Trump was a 'terrorist' and 'Nazi,' who she would kill at 'the compound' if necessary. Jones also allegedly told officers that she had access to a 'bladed object' to use to 'carry out her mission of killing' the president in retaliation for the pandemic death toll, which she attributed to Trump and his previous administration. Jones was tracked down in the District of Columbia the following day and confirmed her previous statements but said she no longer wanted to harm the president, records show. 'Threatening the life of the President is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution,' U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a news release. 'Make no mistake — justice will be served.' Trump has faced multiple assassination threats, and he survived a shooting during a campaign rally in July 2024 when a bullet grazed his ear. The Hill's sister station NewsNation interviewed Jones during a protest in D.C. before her arrest Saturday. She told the station that she believed Trump's policies cost lives by undermining vaccines and health care needs of the vulnerable. 'This regime has to go, the whole administration,' she said. She also addressed Trump's recent federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployment of D.C.'s National Guard to address crime. 'You do not deploy the military against the American people,' Jones told NewsNation. 'We will not be suppressed. We will not exist in this authoritarian regime. We will not accept fascism.'
Indianapolis Star
5 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Secret Service arrests Lafayette woman on charges she threatened to kill the president
This article has been updated to add information. WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secret Service arrested Lafayette resident Nathalie Rose Jones on Saturday on charges she threatened to kill President Donald Trump on her social media platforms. U.S. District Court documents charge Jones, 50, who most recently was living in New York City, threatened to kill, kidnap and inflict bodily harm on Trump, according to a news release from federal officials published Monday. Secret Service agents interviewed Jones in New York on Friday, during which Jones allegedly called the president a terrorist and a Nazi and said if she had the opportunity, she would take the president's life and would kill him at "the compound," according to the U.S. attorney's office news release. On Saturday, Jones traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in an protest that passed near the White House. Jones' Facebook posts from Saturday include photos of some of the protests. After the protest, U.S. Secret Service agents interviewed Jones a second time. She admitted to threatening the president the day before but told agents she did not have any present desires to harm him, according to the news release. Agents then arrested her, according to the U.S. attorney's office. "Threatening the life of the president is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in the news release. "Make no mistake — justice will be served." Jones made threats on Instagram and Facebook between Aug. 2 through Aug. 15, according to the U.S. attorney's office. According to her website marking her writing, Jones was born and raised in Rensselaer. She graduated from Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities on the Ball State University campus in Muncie. She then attended Indiana University but quit and joined the Army Reserves. After leaving the Reserves, she attended Purdue University, where she graduated in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, according to her website. A Purdue spokesperson has not confirmed that information. Her writings can be found at her website, However, she charges a fee of $1,776 to access her work. On a video Jones posted on her Facebook page, apparently on May 24, 2021 — World Schizophrenia Day — she discussed having mental health problems. "I am someone who identifies as schizophrenic," Jones said as she talks about celebrating the day. "What that means for me is: I think I'm famous, and let's get there." She admits to experiencing an altered sense of self and having disorganized thoughts. "Whatever this disease is I have, it's fine," she said on the 4-year-old video. "I'm not going to hurt anybody."
