Slain Clayton County police officer Sean Louis Callahan was called hero on more than one occasion Friday during his funeral.
Officers wearing white hats flanked his U.S. flag-draped coffin as a bag-pipe played and loved ones filed into the ceremony.
And more than 100 police officers from dozens of state-wide agencies were on-hand to pay their respects to the fallen rookie cop.
Friends, family and fellow officers remembered the 24-year-old Lassiter High School graduate as a sunny, compassionate and loyal man.
“You couldn’t help but fall in love with that guy,” one of his best friends, Justin Morgan told the congregation that filled the main sanctuary Friday of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Cobb County.
Another best friend, Kermit Tyler, acknowledged Callahan’s heroics.
“My best friend died a hero,” Tyler said. “And I know now he’s protecting us from on high.”
Clayton Officer Waymondo Brown alluded to Friday’s frigid temperatures as evidence that Callahan’s warm spirit was missed.
“The morning of Dec. 18, the world became a colder place,” Brown said. “No wonder today is the coldest day of the month.”
More than 80 police motorcycles were on-hand, taking turns escorting the processional before and after the funeral.
Officers representing state and local agencies such as DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, Cartersville Police, the GBI, Hiram Police, Atlanta Police, Paulding County Sheriff’s Office, State Troopers, the Department of Corrections, and from as near as Clayton County to from as far away as Peach County – where Fort Valley is the county seat – were in attendance.
Callahan and another officer were trying to arrest 42-year-old Tremaine Lebis late Monday night while responding to a domestic call at a motel near Stockbridge.
Lebis, police said, escaped Callahan and the other officer and began shooting, striking Callahan in the head, police said.
Callahan was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where he died early Tuesday morning.
“I stand here today because, Sean, you put yourself between me and danger,” a tearful Brown said Friday morning. “I love you.”
Other loved ones recalled Callahan’s determination to fulfill his dream of becoming a policeman.
“He did it so well, he gave my life purpose,” his girlfriend, Melody Benjamin said.
Callahan’s sister said she saw a servant’s spirit in her brother long before he joined Clayton County police.
“He has always been my hero, even before he became a hero to everyone else,” Candice Shirley said.
The gregarious Callahan – whom friends said had a hug “as strong as the Hulk with the comfort of a Teddy bear” – attended Kennesaw State University before enrolling in the police academy at Reinhardt University in Waleska.
Upon completion of the program, he joined the Clayton County Police in August.
Clayton County Board of Commissions Chairman Eldrin Bell, former Atlanta police chief, lamented burying another policeman in his career before reading a proclamation making Dec. 21, “Sean Louis Callahan Day” in Clayton.
“Before I became commissioner, I did 42 of these,” Bell said. “His will be another sad milestone for me. He offered to the department a sense of zeal unlike any other.”
Both Bell and Clayton County Police Chief Greg Porter offered their gratitude to Callahan’s family and loved ones and extended the arms of the entire department as an extended family.
Porter ordered all Clayton police personnel inside the church to stand as he spoke to the family.
“Look around you,” he told Callahan’s family and loved ones. “Say hello to the more than 600 members of your new family.”
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