By Jeff Kunerth
Orlando Sentinel
TITUSVILLE, Fla. — The way it ended -- on a fishing trip, trying to save a child -- says volumes about Ottie “Steve” Harrelson.
Harrelson, a 65-year-old retired police officer, died Saturday after jumping into the Indian River near Titusville to rescue a boy with disabilities who had fallen out of his john boat.
“My father instinctively just jumped off the boat. Didn’t think, just did,” said his son Corey Harrelson, 36, of Lake Mary.
Steve Harrelson was with several other police officers who took a group of teens with disabilities and their parents on a fishing outing Friday. The boy who fell out of Harrelson’s boat made it back. Harrelson didn’t.
Pulled unconscious from the water, he was taken to Parrish Medical Center in Titusville. His family removed him from life support Saturday morning.
Harrelson spent 20 years with the Orlando Police Department and also worked for the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. In his last years with OPD, Harrelson worked on crimes against children. The abuse and suffering he saw, but could not prevent, took a toll on him, his son said.
“It was very frustrating to him not to be able to take that poor child and get them out of that situation. He took it so personally, it was emotionally taxing on him,” his son said. “He always had a special place in his heart for children, for sure.”
So he turned to mentoring boys he could save, providing them with moral and ethic guidance, offering support and advice. Often his wisdom came from the end of a fishing pole. Being outdoors, on the water, under the stars, by a campfire, is when the stern and strict exterior of Steve Harrelson gave way to the compassionate heart inside.
“Some of the most influential conversations I had with my father were sitting under the stars by a fire. The conversations that made me want to be a better person, we shared on those occasions -- fishing, hunting or camping.”
Always an athletic and physically fit person, Harrelson had gained weight in recent years and developed health problems -- high blood pressure, diabetes -- that could have contributed to his death, his son said.
“He was a terrible patient. He wouldn’t eat the right things. He would miss taking his medications,” the younger Harrelson said.
And though the retired officer was a good swimmer, he was lousy at floating -- sinking straight to the bottom of any body of water, his son said.
“My theory is he tried so hard to keep his head above water he just plum wore himself out,” Corey Harrelson said. “He’s my dad. I love him dearly, and I will miss him.”
In addition to his son, Steve Harrelson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Harrelson, of Longwood; daughter, Melissa Tillotson, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; two brothers, Donnie Harrelson and Tony Harrelson; and four grandchildren.
Woodlawn Carey Hand Funeral Home, Gotha, is handling funeral arrangements.
Copyright 2009 Orlando Sentinel