Officer Seara Burton.Photo: Facebook
The Indiana K-9 police officer who was shot in the head during a traffic stop nine days before she was supposed to get married has died five weeks after the deadly incident.
On Sunday night,the Richmond Police Department announcedthat Officer Seara Burton, 28, Richmond’s first female K-9 Officer, died at 9:59 p.m.
Two weeks earlier she was taken off of life support at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, police said.
She was moved shortly after to hospice,WTHRreports.
“She succumbed to the injury she received in a criminal act that occurred on August 10th, 2022,” the release said.
On Monday, her body was brought back to Indiana, WTHR reports.
Residents lined the streets, crying and saluting, as a somber procession of police motorcycles and police cars led the hearse carrying Burton’s remains back home.
“There were a lot of us that cried,” Richmond resident Joann Plummer said, WTHR reports. “Even me. But this will be a day that nobody will forget. She will be always in our thoughts and prayers.”
Burton was shot in the head on Aug. 10 when she and her K-9 partner were called to assist her fellow officers with a potentially drug-related traffic stop, Richmond Police said in a statement.
The Richmond Police Narcotics Unit was conducting an operation and allegedly saw Phillip Lee, 47, stop at a garage where they believe a drug transaction had taken place, police said,WTHRreports.
Officers pulled Lee over on the 200 Block of North 12th Street, police said.
At about 6:30 p.m., Burton arrived on the scene with her four-legged partner, Brev, and had him conduct an open-air sniff on Lee and the moped he was driving, WTHR reports.
The open-air sniff allegedly indicated the presence of narcotics, police said, WXIX reports.
While the officers were talking to Lee, police allege he pulled out a gun and opened fire, striking Burton, WXIX reports.
Lee fled on foot as officers returned fire, striking him, police said.
Burton, a four-year veteran of the department who had recently become a K-9 Officer, was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital in critical condition, where she fought for her life, Chief Michael Britt said in a release on Aug. 18.
Richmond Police then made the painful announcement that Burton would be taken off of life support on Sept. 1.
“Her injuries have been determined to be unrecoverable,” Chief Michael Britt, Major Jon Bales and Major Aly Tonuc said in the statement.
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Lee, who also sustained injuries on Aug. 10, appeared in court via video from his hospital bed on Aug. 19 — the day Burton was supposed to marry her fiancée Sierra Neal,WIBCreports.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is being held on a $1.5 million bond.
It is unclear whether Lee has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
On Aug. 19, Burton’s fiancé visited her at the hospital, wearing her wedding dress as she walked toward Burton’s hospital room.
“This walk was supposed to look a lot different, but I will always be thankful we still got to celebrate,” Neal wrote in a caption of aTikTok video. “Even if it is not legal on paper, you are my wife. I love you Seara.”
On Sept. 1, police officers, hospital staff and Burton’s loved ones lined the halls of the hospital as they held an honor walk for her as she was being taken from the ICU to the operating room for organ donation,Dayton 247 Nowreports.
Leading the way was Burton’s K-9 partner Brev who was not injured in the shootout.
Chief Britt praised Burton for being an organ donor.
“Seara will live on and continue to be a hero with her selfless gift of organ donation. Officer Burton will continue to serve others long after her passing,” he said.
source: people.com
