Kleenex time.

From EOnline.com:

Tanner Brownlee from Colorado attended an auction on Wednesday night to raise money for C.O.P.S. (Concerns of Police Survivors) with one goal on his mind: to win his father’s squad car.

Tanner’s dad, Deputy Sam Brownlee, was killed in the line of duty after a police chase in 2010. His Dodge Charger was one of his prized possessions and 19-year-old Tanner was on a mission to buy a piece of his father’s memory.

From WestWord.com in 2010:

Sam Brownlee, first Weld County deputy killed in line of duty since 1940: Tributes pour in

by Michael Roberts

The last Weld County deputy to die while doing his job was Earl Bucher way back in 1940 — until yesterday, that is. Deputy Sam Brownlee was allegedly slain by Reuben Reyes, twenty, following a chase that reached speeds topping 100 miles per hour. Afterward, Reyes himself was killed by officers.

According to the Greeley Tribune, Reyes stole the car of a woman he knew mid-morning yesterday in Morgan County. Officers from Morgan County and the community of Wiggins gave chase for more than an hour, with Weld County joining in when Reyes passed into that jurisdiction. So, too, did the Colorado State Patrol, and while its use of stop-sticks near Kersey didn’t disable Reyes’s vehicle right away, the car eventually lost a tire in Greeley.

Bystanders report that officers surrounded the car — but then shots rang out, and Brownlee went down. At that point, the officers opened fire on Reyes, who reportedly went by the street names “Smiley” and “Demon.” His rap sheet includes offenses for felony menacing and driving under the influence, as well as an assault beef that was subsequently dismissed.

Brownlee left behind two children, two stepchildren and a wife who works for the Weld County District Attorney’s Office. As noted by the Tribune, he was a training officer, charged with helping his peers survive dangerous situations.

Continuing, from EOnline.com:

“It’d mean a lot to me and my brother. We’ve been through a lot,” he told WKBW.

“This is kind of the end of Sam’s legacy here. It’s the last tangible thing we have that he was connected to,” added Sheriff Steve Reams.

It gets better. And more surprising.

Tanner applauded the amount of money his dad’s car raised, because after all, it was for a good cause (C.O.P.S. provides help for family members and coworkers of officers killed in the line of duty), but he was about to have an even better reason to celebrate.

The second Steve Wells got his hand on the keys to the Dodge Charger patrol car, he turned to the grieving son who lost his father and said, “Tanner, here’s your car.”

Humanity.

We need more of it.

BZ