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Holladay • With bullet wounds through both of his legs, Unified Police Department Officer Jon Richey stood before a crowd of hundreds Wednesday night, just a few blocks from where he was shot three days earlier in Holladay.
But he was not there to accept accolades in Sunday's deadly shootout. After limping to the gazebo behind City Hall, Richey could speak only of fellow Officer Doug Barney, who police say was killed by the same shooter who wounded Richey, and whom Richey called "one hell of a partner."
"He was truly a veteran," Richey said to the tearful crowd as candles bobbed in the winter night. "He knew people. He knew how to deal with people."
Richey recalled his first assignment with Barney: a domestic dispute involving two people who wanted to see no one less than a police officer.
"I got to see Doug work, to see him take charge of that situation without alienating anybody," Richey said. "Doug simply separated them and talked to them. He talked to them like they were people. There was no officiousness. No, 'I'm a cop, and you're not the cops, so this is going to go my way.' None of that."
Barney, a UPD officer of 18 years, died Sunday after confronting fugitive Cory Lee Henderson as Henderson tried to flee a traffic crash near 2300 East 4500 South. Henderson, 31, allegedly shot Barney once in the head and then died in a firefight with Richey and other officers about two blocks away.
During Wednesday's candlelight vigil, Barney's widow, Erika Barney, described her husband as "boisterous, generous and passionate."
"I take a bit longer to process my feelings," she said, joined onstage by her teenage children, Matti, Merri and Jack. "This week I'm not quite there yet. I haven't taken it all in. But ... the love has been felt, and it's helping."
Love and kindness are the only ways to cope with the tragedy, said Sheriff Jim Winder. He said he felt hopeless after days of asking 'Why?' Then he left UPD's headquarters one day this week to find a tow truck driver outside of the building, pulling small American flags out of his truck and placing them on the lawn.
"I went over and said, 'Why?' He said, 'It seemed like the right thing to do.' " Winder recounted. "We gotta quit looking for answers because there ain't none. Selflessness and love will carry us through this. ... I'm going to sit back and enjoy the love of my neighbors and my friends, and I'm going to try to give it back."
Holladay Mayor Robert M. Dahle said the entire town needs to come together after being "shocked and scarred."
"My emotions begin to swing between profound sadness ... and anger," he said, especially upon learning that Henderson was able to leave a rehab center where he was sent amid drug and firearms charges. "How can a man with a [lengthy criminal record] be roaming the streets four weeks after walking away from a treatment facility and have access to a gun?"
The trauma of Barney's death, however, left his youngest child undeterred in his dream. When asked what he wanted to be when he grows up, he replied: "a police officer."
Barney's family will become the first beneficiaries of HB288, a law enacted last year that improves death benefits for families of fallen officers and firefighters.
The bill requires that survivors get a lump-sum death benefit equal to six months' pay, as well as continuing health-insurance coverage for spouses until they remarry or become eligible for Medicare, and for children up to age 26. HB288 also sets up a specialist in the governor's office to help survivors handle required paperwork for benefits and other needs.
Richey said the true gift of a law enforcement profession is the automatic bond it forges among those who live it.
"When we start working together, we know that we can trust each other with our lives," he said. "That's where we begin a relationship: 'Doug, I'll lay my life down for you because I know you'll lay your life down for me.' "
Twitter: @erinalberty