Pueblo deputy to be added to memorial
Pueblo County Sheriff’s Sergeant/Inspector Warren Watts’s name will be added to the National and Colorado Law Enforcement monuments during separate ceremonies scheduled in May.
“Inspector Watts made the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens of Pueblo County. I am thankful he will be forever remembered and honored for that sacrifice along with the other heroes who died in the line of duty while serving their communities,” Sheriff Kirk Taylor said.
Watts, 53, died June 16, 2012, of a heart attack following a routine daily run. In November 2015, the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit Program declared Watts’ death as in the line of duty after it was determined he suffered three separate cardiac arrests, two of which occurred while he was on duty. The declaration allowed for Watts’ wife, Lori, to receive survivors’ benefits and made it eligible for the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office to apply to have Watts’ name listed on the respective national and state memorials that honor law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.
Watts’ name will be unveiled on the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial at a ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m., May 6 at the Colorado State Patrol Training Center in Golden. On May 13, the National Law Enforcement Memorial will unveil Watts name along with the names of other law officers nationwide, including Watts, who died in the line of duty. Several Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office leaders and deputies will attend both ceremonies.
The National Memorial dedication is scheduled as part of the annual Candle Light Vigil event held during National Police Week (May 15-21, 2016). In 1962, President John F. Kennedy declared May 15 to be known as National Peace Officer Memorial Day. Out of that declaration evolved National Police Week which is designed to pay special recognition to law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.
Watts will become the third Pueblo County Sheriff’s deputy to have his name placed on the memorials. Captain Leide DeFusco’s name was added to the monuments in 2013, and Deputy W.W. Green’s name was etched on the memorials in 2012 as a historical line of duty death. DeFusco was killed in a plane crash on Aug. 31, 2012, while searching for a marijuana field in the San Isabel Forest. Green was shot and killed in 1918 by an inmate who obtained a gun from his girlfriend who brought it into the jail in a picnic basket.
