Thousands to gather to remember fallen Miami-Dade officers

BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com

Approximately 2500 members of the law enforcement community, as well as surviving family members and the general public attended a ceremony held on May 7, 2009 at Tropical Park to remember officers serving the Miami-Dade County community who have died in the line of duty.

The annual ceremony honors the 132 officers from Miami-Dade County law enforcement agencies who have died in the line of duty in the past 150 years. It includes a 21-gun salute, helicopter flyover and riderless horse -- a military tradition meant to symbolize a general surveying his troops for a final time. The United States Honor Flag, which flew over Ground Zero during the recovery efforts after September 11th, flew at the ceremony.

One surviving daughter, Carla Gorman, herself a police officer, spoke of her father who was killed while she was a just a little girl. Another surviving daughter, Amber Vargas, honored her father who also died while she was less than a year old. It was a truly solemn and moving occasion.

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