CACHE COUNTY, Utah — A tribute to a fallen officer in Cache County is all about helping people cope with traumatic experiences.
Before Cache County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Brian Locke died in an ATV accident earlier this month, he spoke with Terryl Warner, the director of victim services at the Cache County Attorney’s office about creating something to help victims.
Often they were responding to traumatic events, where families didn’t have the ability to go home and get the things they need to feel comfortable.
“Brian was the one that said we have to do something different. We have to do something better for the people of our community and the night before he died, I called him and said I have my funding,” said Warner.
That was the case for Deserae Turner’s familyafter she was shot in the back of the head and left to die in a Smithfield canal almost two years ago.
“In my experience, my parents, my mother she did not leave the hospital. She was with me every second, which made it hard. She didn’t have clean clothes, she didn’t have anything to comfort her,” said Turner.
Deserae Turner and her cousin Cade spent the day helping Warner put the bags together, full of necessities like deodorant, blankets, water, crackers, journals and a lot more.
Now victim advocates won’t come empty-handed to traumatic events. They’ll be able to hand out Brian’s bags to families to help them cope while honoring the selfless life of lieutenant Locke.
“It makes my heart happy to see that we’re doing something for others and people like me who go through the roughest time of their life. It will help them,” said Turner.
