SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A moving Memorial Service for the Caddo Parish Auxiliary deputy who last week gave his life in the line of duty was held Saturday at Calvary Baptist Church in Shreveport.
Deputy Lonnie Thacker died when the patrol car he was inside was hit by an oncoming vehicle on I-49 northbound just after he had finished helping with traffic control at the scene of an earlier accident.
The 82-year-old Thacker had served as an auxiliary deputy for 20 years, logging more than 500 volunteer hours annually, after joining the organization just a year after Caddo Parish Steve Prator first took office and formed the auxiliary organization.
At the service, Prator praised Thacker’s service, saying he had served in so many capacities, all on a volunteer basis. Thacker had done everything from working festivals, helping at the various shooting camps sponsored by the Sheriff’s office, Scout camps, the Caddo Sheriff’s Safety Town, went on patrol with deputies, directed traffic at events, as well as accidents such as he was doing on the day he died.
“If every citizen gave like Lonnie gave back,” Prator told the congregation of friends, family and fellow law enforcement officers, “what a wonderful world it would be.”
But the most poignant moments in the service came when four shots rang out, and then, the haunting sounds of Taps began to play and the audience rose as two Caddo Parish deputies slowly folded the United States Flag.
Then, from the back of the church, bagpipes began playing Amazing Grace, and, as all law enforcement officials stood at attention, the two who folded the flag gave it to Thacker’s family.
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