By Police1 Staff
ORANGE COUNTY, Texas — An officer who broke the news of the untimely passing of a teen’s parents showed up at his high school graduation in a show of support.
According to KBMT, Lt. Eric Ellison had the unfortunate responsibility of informing 18-year-old Kazzie Portie that his parents, Riley and Emily, had passed away in a traffic accident on May 24 – less than a week before Kazzie was due to graduate.
When Kazzie’s day to walk the stage came, Lt. Ellison was there to cheer him on.
“I walked up on the stage he looked at me and I looked at him and we both cried and that’s OK,” Lt. Ellison told KBMT. “I told him ‘you’re going to walk and your folks are going to have a front row seat and I’m going to be there.’”
Cheers reportedly erupted from the audience in the auditorium as the officer and the graduate embraced onstage.
“Seeing Officer Ellison there to congratulate me meant the world to me,” Kazzie told BuzzFeed. “It was so nice to see that he actually showed a genuine care for me and my family’s situation instead of us just being another ‘case.’”
The driver of the truck that collided with the parents’ motorcycle is currently facing two charges of intoxication manslaughter, according to the report.