This article is reprinted with permission from Beyond the Badge. The Riverside Sheriff’s Association has set up a website so people can support the Werksman family, as well as the family of Deputy Terrell Young, who also died due to complications related to COVID-19. To donate, please click here.
By Greg Hardesty
The masked woman stood in her driveway, safely distanced from other onlookers but with her dog Ruby, 11, a German shorthaired pointer, by her side.
Ruby actually was Dave Werksman’s dog. She adored him. And he adored her.
The woman, Kristin Werksman, wore black as she watched the procession briefly stop outside her house in Corona around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 3.
The body of Dave Werksman, a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy who died the day before from complications caused by COVID-19, was in a white van that was transporting him from the Riverside County Coroner’s Office in Perris to a mortuary near his home.
The long procession of motor deputies and other members of law enforcement stopped for several minutes in front of the Werksman residence to allow Kristin to see her husband’s final ride.
Kristin, having tested positive for COVID-19, remains under quarantine. She watched in silence as honor guards saluted her.
In addition to losing her husband of nearly seven years, Kristin, for now, has lost the ability to have physical contact with loved ones – she has two children from a previous marriage – and friends.
She lost physical contact with Dave after she dropped him off at an emergency room when his fever spiked on Sunday, March 29.
That was the last time Kristin saw him.
For now, of course, there will be no funeral – no celebration of life for the beloved law enforcement veteran, a former dispatcher at the Tustin PD who spent 22 years at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
When he died, Dave Werksman was planning to medically retire. His dream was to buy a catamaran and move with Kristin to the Bahamas.
Inside a silver Honda Civic near the back of the procession were Dave Werksman’s former wife, Debora, and their three children: Oliver, 26; Abby, 23; and Shelby, 19.
As the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 continues to tighten the world in its often-deadly grip, killing 508 statewide and 32 in Riverside County as of Thursday, April 9, loved ones of the fallen struggle through their grief to hold onto something more powerful than any virus: Memories.
“My dad raised us in a strict household, and he raised us well,” Abby Werksman said in an interview Wednesday, April 8. “My siblings and I are finally at the age where we could start enjoying a relationship with my father as friends. It’s so unfortunate this happened to him because his kids were his life.
“We had recently started opening up to him about more private parts of life, and we just wanted him to be a part of our adulthood. We’re all young adults who are all coming into ourselves, and he was really proud to see that.”
Kristin Werksman, 47, said the worst of her battle with COVID-19 is behind her. But the enormity of losing Dave is just starting to hit her.
“It’s been unreal,” said Kristin, whose two children, a 19-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, fortunately have tested negative for COVID-19.
“I’m trying not to think about the virus,” Kristin said. “I’m trying to focus on being thankful for the time that I had with him. I’m shocked, obviously, that he’s gone. I’m just trying to remember the good times. Because I think that’ll help…
“Dave was an honest, trustworthy, hard-working person. He never lied. He was a very faithful husband and father who was committed to his family. He was just a really good guy.”
Law enforcement career
Dave Werksman, 51, was one of two Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies to die from complications caused by COVID-19 on the same day. The disease, a pandemic that has upended societies worldwide, also claimed the life of Deputy Terrell Young, 52, on April 2.
At the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Werksman distinguished himself as a friendly deputy and a highly accomplished member of the agency’s Bomb Squad.
Werksman began his career with the RCSD on April 23, 1998, and worked assignments at the Robert Presley Detention Center, Jurupa Valley Station, Hazardous Device Team, and Lake Elsinore Station. Most recently, he was assigned to Sheriff’s Administration.
Dave was an FBI-certified Public Safety Bomb Technician and also had an advanced IED electronics certification. He was a HAZMAT specialist and Radiologic/Nuclear First Responder, and also was certified in confined space rescue.
Dave also was a range master, first aid/CPR instructor and advanced scuba certified, to name a few of his accomplishments.
His best friend at the RCSD was Deputy Ralph Cuevas.
“They had a ‘bromance’ like no other,” Debora Werksman said with a laugh.
Cuevas, who has been with the RCSD for 24 years, first met Dave when Dave was assigned to the RCSD’s Hazardous Device Team, in 2003. They formed a fast and deep friendship. Ralph’s three children were about the same ages as Dave’s.
“We watched our kids grow up,” Ralph said Thursday, April 9, in an interview. Over the years, the two went on hundreds of callouts together.
“There were a lot of good conversations between us and more memories than I can share,” Cuevas said. “We always said we were brothers from another mother. When I learned of his death, I was devastated.”
Ralph wasn’t about to let Dave take that final ride by himself. He rode in the second sheriff’s marked unit behind the transport van that carried Dave in the procession.
“To Dave’s wife and family, I’m sorry for your loss,” said Ralph, who currently is assigned to Court Services West in Riverside.
“To Dave, we will meet again.
HIS WIFE REMEMBERS
Kristin said that in addition to Ruby, the German shorthaired pointer, Princess, 9, a pug, and Cera, 3, a Husky, are helping her get through these very difficult days.
So are the women and men of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and Riverside Sheriff’s Association.
“Their support has been huge,” Kristin said. “It’s been a huge outpouring of support from everybody.”
When he died, Dave had been on light duty in the RCSD administration office due to job-related injuries that required surgeries.
Kristin isn’t sure how Dave got COVID-19.
He had been caring for his mother for a while. Mary Werksman died March 17, 2020, at age 88.
On March 29, Kristin drove him to the hospital. He called her twice later that night with updates. Those were Kristin’s last conversations with Dave. He then was placed in a medically induced coma and put on a respirator.
As she continues to recover at home, Kristin can only imagine what might have been – and what was, for more than seven years, a wonderful relationship.
She thanked the RCSD and RSA for all of their support – and for the procession. Debora Werksman and her children are very grateful for the support and help shown by the Irvine PD, too.
“Me and Debora and Dave’s kids are all doing our best to honor him and support each other,” Kristin said. “We will get through this together as that is what Dave would have wanted.”