I’ve been with Scott for 21 years, married 20. He’s not perfect. I’m not perfect. But we’re perfect for each other. I can’t imagine a single minute without him in my life. We have two beautiful daughters that were lucky enough to inherit his kaleidoscope blue eyes – truly, they sparkle. He didn’t run for the hills when I suggested (after two years of marriage and a newborn) that we buy an 85 year old house for me to turn into a business. He let me chase my dream of small business ownership – of which I’ve been able to do for going on 17 years now. It allowed me to stay close to my girls as they grew up. He’s a very patient and kind man – it takes a lot to rile him up. He’s helped ground me and make me less of a spaz. I’ve always said that he hums at a very low frequency – mine is MUCH higher.
He started with Phoenix police academy when he was 21. He failed a test and got “washed out” of the academy. He decided that it was his “omen” and he should pursue other things. We were married when we were 27 and I could tell that he still longed for the LEO life. I was working close with Glendale PD on a federal grant project and it became too much for him. He finally decided that he would pursue the dream – with a full blessing from all of us nearly 15 years after the original start. He was “old” coming out of the academy at 36.
I have witnessed from where I sit so many things that it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few reasons why I think he’s a GREAT man and officer. I sat and listened to him recount the horrific accident where several small children and infants were thrown from a vehicle because they were not properly restrained. And kissed him goodbye as he headed to the morgue the next day to identify them. I sat with him when he told me about the drowning call of a 3 year old girl who looked EXACTLY like our 3 year old girl. The words barely came out.
We lived without him for days as he and his fellow officers searched Glendale for a missing 5 year old girl, then sent him off to Maricopa for months while he dug for her body in a landfill. He truly believed in his heart of hearts that HE would find her. And was devastated that he didn’t.
I sent him to the hospital the morning Officer Holly was killed to be with his brothers. And waited until the wee hours of the morning for him to come home after another brother, Officer Jones was gunned down in a parking lot. I stood behind the rank and file of officers dressed in their class A uniforms with their badges covered in shrouds – even though they stood at attention, their bodies wracked with sobs.
He witnessed his good friend and his K9 being shot in our friend’s backyard. And after he helped remove the officer and the K9 from the scene, returned to give the suspect CPR – even though he had tried to kill his friend. Then returned days later to make sure the kids who lived in the house were doing okay after what they had witnessed.
These are a very few reasons that I think he’s amazing. He’s very tall. He’s very quiet. And his heart is so incredibly large – the badge barely covers it.
They're truly NOT the bad guys. People just tend to meet them on the days they made their worst choices.
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