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Oakland County Deputy Eric Overall killed in line of duty laid to rest

Published  November 28, 2017 5:20pm EST
News
FOX 2 Detroit

Oakland County Deputy Eric Overall kille - Thousands of mourners packed into a church in Independence Township to say goodbye to Oakland County Deputy Eric Overall who was killed in the line of duty on Thanksgiving morning.

He was a 22-year veteran of the department, a husband, a father, a fisherman, and a school liaison officer, who touched the lives of so many students.

"He saved my life from an abusive relationship. You could talk to him about anything. Everything," said Shayna Ellsworth.

She says Overall mentored her as a student at Walled Lake Central.

"If you're in trouble he would reach out to even the most troubled kids," she said. "And it's horrible because the kid that had hit him, he would have reached out to."

Overall's motto was never quit, and he told it to his students, to his two sons. He lost his youngest to suicide in 2014, but his surviving son, Ken, spoke at his father's funeral.

"He told me for years - and you see it everywhere, and everyone said it today - never quit. Since the loss of my brother he never quit and I know he wanted to, and it was there but he never quit," Ken said.

It was a theme repeated over and over - a call for others to do the same.

"I know he's looking down upon us all with that sweet smile and he's saying, weather your storms with courage, keep on keeping on, and of course, never quit," his wife Sonja said.

It was an emotional service filled with tears and laughter, ending with a last call to Deputy Overall over the police radio. Officers from Michigan to Chicago to New York came to honor one of their own.

"These men and women who serve behind the badge are people - they really are unique characters and they have family and friends," said West Bloomfield Police Chief Michael Patton.

But on this day of sadness - a profound message to carry on - to never quit.

"As I just told the one young man - you go forward and have an amazing life, Eric's living through you," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.