Among the dead, officials confirmed, was a police officer, Spree Desha, 35. When her identity was learned, all officers on the scene formed lines, stood at attention and saluted in silence as her body, covered in a white sheet, was lifted down a ladder and placed with 10 other victims a short distance from the tracks.
That paragraph, from this NYT article about the recent commuter train crash near Los Angeles, just wrecked me. Was Spree shown that kind of professional respect when she was alive? I hope so. I like to think that she was.
–Ann Bartow
