Beorn
Member
Officer Lee laid to rest
'He did his duty'
Slain Indio veteran's funeral attended by 1,500; he was beaten to death
05/20/2003
By DOUG HABERMAN and DIANE CARMONY
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (Riverside California)
On the day he would have turned 46, friends and colleagues remembered Bruce Lee as a veteran Riverside County sheriff's deputy devoted to his wife of nine years and to his job.
Lee was fatally beaten with his own baton May 13 after answering a domestic disturbance call in La Quinta. A backup deputy who arrived moments later then shot to death the man who killed Lee, 24-year-old Kevin Diabo of La Quinta.
About 1,500 people gathered beneath the grey-brown flanks of the Santa Rosa Mountains in La Quinta for the service at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Mourners included hundreds of law enforcement officers from across Southern California and other parts of the state.
Attorney general's promise
"We can never repay the debt but we can promise his service won't be forgotten," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said of Lee.
Ron Henderson, a friend of Lee's, cried briefly as he addressed Lee's widow, Patricia, who is called Patsy.
"I know that he was starstruck by you," he told her.
Henderson recalled Lee's calls years ago to Henderson's wife, Patsy Lee's best friend, nightly after meeting Patsy -- to see if he stood a chance with her.
"So, what do you think? Will she like me? Will she go out with me?" Lee would ask.
The Lees married in a wedding performed by Wayne Hoy at Our Lady of Soledad Catholic Church in Coachella in eastern Riverside County. Hoy, a deacon at the church, is an Indio police officer and chaplain.
Lee made the choice to risk his life when he was sworn in as a sheriff's deputy, Hoy said.
"He laid down his life each time he put on a uniform and said goodbye to Patsy," he said. "He did his duty."
Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle, who worked with Lee in Indio, said law enforcement officers are at war against criminals every day. "Deputy Bruce Lee is a hero in that continuing war," he said. "His quiet strength will be remembered forever and Bruce will always, always be missed."
Sheriff's Capt. John Horton, who oversees the Indio station where Lee was based, first paid tribute to Lee's parents, Joseph and Ramona Lee, who sat in the front pew.
"It was obvious his upbringing included the meaning of high moral values," Horton told them.
Lee became interested in law enforcement when he was 11 and hanging out at his father's gas station in Inglewood, where he met an Inglewood police officer, Bob Manning, Horton said.
Bob Manning's son, Mike, is now a deputy in the sheriff's Palm Desert station and was one of eight pallbearers Monday.
Lee, an expert in traffic law and accident investigation trained hundreds of new deputies in traffic enforcement. He was "a perfect model for every new deputy," Horton said.
He fought back tears as he said Lee's name would be etched in memorials for peace officers fallen in the line of duty.
Henderson remembered Lee's fun side. Like the time he was whooshing down a hilly street in La Quinta on his bicycle and he ran a stop sign or two. Suddenly he heard a siren squawk.
"It was Bruce, just giving me a hard time," Henderson said.
Mourners filled the sanctuary with its wooden-beam ceiling and three-tiered cast-iron chandeliers as well as filling an adjacent hall where a big-screen TV was set up. Hundreds of other people stood outside for lack of room or waited under a white shade structure by a loudspeaker and in nearby alcoves to escape the desert heat, which was in the mid-90s by midmorning.
Lee's colleagues from the Indio station lined the entrance to the church before the funeral and saluted as a white hearse brought Lee's coffin, draped in an American flag, up to the church and the pallbearers carried it inside.
They saluted again, one by one, as they filed past the coffin at the end of the funeral. And they saluted outside the church yet again as the pallbearers carried it back to the hearse for the procession to Coachella Valley Cemetery in Coachella.
At the graveside service, Robert Jackson, the cantor at the Coachella church, sang a Boyz II Men song a capella.
Bagpipe's sounds fill air
"I thought we'd get to see forever but forever's gone away," he sang in a strong voice. "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday."
An honor guard performed a 21-gun salute. Then three trumpeters sounded taps from different points in the cemetery.
As the pallbearers began folding the flag from the coffin, the strains of "Amazing Grace," played on a bagpipe by Deputy Doug Hoyt, filled the air.
The flag was presented to Patricia Lee, who held it gingerly, wiping away tears. Many onlookers cried quietly.
Finally, four police helicopters flew slowly over the cemetery, one of them veering off in the "missing man" formation. Deputies from the Indio station chanted the last radio call numbers for Bruce Lee, symbolically releasing him from service.
Commander K. D. Latham of the Indio Police Department said officers were heartened by the community's response to Lee's death.
During the procession to the cemetery, "there were residents with homemade signs and flags," she said. "I saw signs that said, 'Rest in Peace, Bruce.' and 'You Will Never Be Forgotten.' "
Hoyt, dressed in a green and blue tartan kilt, said he was based in Indio and knew Lee for about 10 years. "He was a great guy," he said. "He always had a smile. We're going to miss him a lot."
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I knew this man. He was an ROP officer at my High School on occasion. My wife spoke to him just a day before he was killed. I'll tell you one thing, I'd have done the same thing the backup deputy did, no question. They don't mention who was the abused party in this domestic dispute, but I bet Bruce saved their life. At the cost of his own.
There's just no sense in it.
'He did his duty'
Slain Indio veteran's funeral attended by 1,500; he was beaten to death
05/20/2003
By DOUG HABERMAN and DIANE CARMONY
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (Riverside California)
On the day he would have turned 46, friends and colleagues remembered Bruce Lee as a veteran Riverside County sheriff's deputy devoted to his wife of nine years and to his job.
Lee was fatally beaten with his own baton May 13 after answering a domestic disturbance call in La Quinta. A backup deputy who arrived moments later then shot to death the man who killed Lee, 24-year-old Kevin Diabo of La Quinta.
About 1,500 people gathered beneath the grey-brown flanks of the Santa Rosa Mountains in La Quinta for the service at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Mourners included hundreds of law enforcement officers from across Southern California and other parts of the state.
Attorney general's promise
"We can never repay the debt but we can promise his service won't be forgotten," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said of Lee.
Ron Henderson, a friend of Lee's, cried briefly as he addressed Lee's widow, Patricia, who is called Patsy.
"I know that he was starstruck by you," he told her.
Henderson recalled Lee's calls years ago to Henderson's wife, Patsy Lee's best friend, nightly after meeting Patsy -- to see if he stood a chance with her.
"So, what do you think? Will she like me? Will she go out with me?" Lee would ask.
The Lees married in a wedding performed by Wayne Hoy at Our Lady of Soledad Catholic Church in Coachella in eastern Riverside County. Hoy, a deacon at the church, is an Indio police officer and chaplain.
Lee made the choice to risk his life when he was sworn in as a sheriff's deputy, Hoy said.
"He laid down his life each time he put on a uniform and said goodbye to Patsy," he said. "He did his duty."
Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle, who worked with Lee in Indio, said law enforcement officers are at war against criminals every day. "Deputy Bruce Lee is a hero in that continuing war," he said. "His quiet strength will be remembered forever and Bruce will always, always be missed."
Sheriff's Capt. John Horton, who oversees the Indio station where Lee was based, first paid tribute to Lee's parents, Joseph and Ramona Lee, who sat in the front pew.
"It was obvious his upbringing included the meaning of high moral values," Horton told them.
Lee became interested in law enforcement when he was 11 and hanging out at his father's gas station in Inglewood, where he met an Inglewood police officer, Bob Manning, Horton said.
Bob Manning's son, Mike, is now a deputy in the sheriff's Palm Desert station and was one of eight pallbearers Monday.
Lee, an expert in traffic law and accident investigation trained hundreds of new deputies in traffic enforcement. He was "a perfect model for every new deputy," Horton said.
He fought back tears as he said Lee's name would be etched in memorials for peace officers fallen in the line of duty.
Henderson remembered Lee's fun side. Like the time he was whooshing down a hilly street in La Quinta on his bicycle and he ran a stop sign or two. Suddenly he heard a siren squawk.
"It was Bruce, just giving me a hard time," Henderson said.
Mourners filled the sanctuary with its wooden-beam ceiling and three-tiered cast-iron chandeliers as well as filling an adjacent hall where a big-screen TV was set up. Hundreds of other people stood outside for lack of room or waited under a white shade structure by a loudspeaker and in nearby alcoves to escape the desert heat, which was in the mid-90s by midmorning.
Lee's colleagues from the Indio station lined the entrance to the church before the funeral and saluted as a white hearse brought Lee's coffin, draped in an American flag, up to the church and the pallbearers carried it inside.
They saluted again, one by one, as they filed past the coffin at the end of the funeral. And they saluted outside the church yet again as the pallbearers carried it back to the hearse for the procession to Coachella Valley Cemetery in Coachella.
At the graveside service, Robert Jackson, the cantor at the Coachella church, sang a Boyz II Men song a capella.
Bagpipe's sounds fill air
"I thought we'd get to see forever but forever's gone away," he sang in a strong voice. "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday."
An honor guard performed a 21-gun salute. Then three trumpeters sounded taps from different points in the cemetery.
As the pallbearers began folding the flag from the coffin, the strains of "Amazing Grace," played on a bagpipe by Deputy Doug Hoyt, filled the air.
The flag was presented to Patricia Lee, who held it gingerly, wiping away tears. Many onlookers cried quietly.
Finally, four police helicopters flew slowly over the cemetery, one of them veering off in the "missing man" formation. Deputies from the Indio station chanted the last radio call numbers for Bruce Lee, symbolically releasing him from service.
Commander K. D. Latham of the Indio Police Department said officers were heartened by the community's response to Lee's death.
During the procession to the cemetery, "there were residents with homemade signs and flags," she said. "I saw signs that said, 'Rest in Peace, Bruce.' and 'You Will Never Be Forgotten.' "
Hoyt, dressed in a green and blue tartan kilt, said he was based in Indio and knew Lee for about 10 years. "He was a great guy," he said. "He always had a smile. We're going to miss him a lot."
----------------------------------------------
I knew this man. He was an ROP officer at my High School on occasion. My wife spoke to him just a day before he was killed. I'll tell you one thing, I'd have done the same thing the backup deputy did, no question. They don't mention who was the abused party in this domestic dispute, but I bet Bruce saved their life. At the cost of his own.
There's just no sense in it.
