Halifax County Sheriff Jeff Frazier officiated at the informal ceremony and briefly explained what had happened to Dan; how he was reported missing and then later the same day, found near death, by a resident who lived in the same neighborhood as Dan’s handler, Deputy Mike Almendarez. Dan had apparently been let out of his kennel during the night and was struck by an automobile.
What happened next, Frazier explained, was the reason the memorial service came about. “Sheriff, the phone is ringing off the hook,” Frazier said his Chief Deputy Wes Tripp told him. “They’re all calling about the loss of Dan,” Tripp told Frazier. “They’re wondering what we’re going to do.” Frazier said, “That is why we’re here today, to pay respect to our Canine Officer.”
The memorial service was held at Hockaday Funeral Home on U.S. Highway 158 in Roanoke Rapids, who offered their cremation and chapel services at no charge; another part of the community response Frazier pointed out. “We just thought it was an appropriate thing to do for Dan, Officer Almendarez, Halifax County and all the people who were so concerned about him,” said Ray Hockaday, from Hockaday Funeral and Cremation Service.
During the service, Frazier asked if anyone would like to get up and speak to the crowd estimated to be between 50 to 75 people and four canine officers. Deputy Almendarez scrambled to his feet as several other officers also began rising to speak.
“First of all I’d like to thank the sheriff for the privilege and the honor of being Dan’s handler,” Almendarez began. “To the community that showed up, I was really surprised to see you. I told my wife and my dad over and over, God must have been watching over us because if it would have been D.O.T. picking him (Dan) up, I couldn’t have had the hospital and the professionals taking their time, taking care of him.”
After citing all the other agencies that had called him about Dan, Almendarez added emphatically, “When you get a call from the FBI, that’s pretty important.”
To the community and his fellow officers, Almendarez said, “I just can’t thank you enough. This was not a dog. They’re actual partners. They go in harm’s way every day. They sit in the back of these cars for hours on end, never complaining. They’re ready to go to work.”
Almendarez finished by telling the audience, “If this Sheriff’s Office and every other agency around the country had the same drive as these dogs, there would be no crime problem in this country.”
Several other officers and deputies spoke before Frazier asked all the canine handlers in the audience to stand and be recognized. Eleven men in uniform rose. Four were from Halifax County, four from Edgecombe County, two from the City of Weldon Police Department and one from the City of Roanoke Rapids. As Frazier recognized them one by one, he noticed N.C. State Trooper Scott Richardson sitting in the back of the chapel.
Richardson had been Canine Officer Dan’s first handler when he arrived at the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office in March of 2004; he was there to say goodbye to his friend and partner. Frazier called him to the front of the chapel saying, “Scott, stand up!”
In a soft and quiet voice Richardson said, “I’m Scott Richardson, I used to be with the Halifax County Sheriff’s Department, but I’m now with the N.C. Highway Patrol.”
He explained how he and Dan came into the Sheriff’s Office at the same time. “We were both as green as green could be.”
As he spoke of Dan, Richardson lowered his gaze and his words trembled, “He was a very good dog; a very smart dog.”
He glanced briefly at Frazier, and then added, “When I left the Sheriff’s Office, I left my best friend.”
Those in the community who couldn’t attend and those who were so concerned about Dan after the initial reports of his disappearance would have loved seeing four fellow Canine Officers and their handlers going forward to pay their respects as Richardson and Almendarez embraced, flanked by Frazier and Almendarez’s fiancée, Terra Dobbins, who sobbed in the arms of Almendarez’s father, Joe Michael Almendarez.
