The Travis County Sheriff’s Office is mourning the inability to grieve their fallen brother ceremoniously. On March 18, Senior Deputy Christopher Korzilius was in his unmarked VICE vehicle on his way to work when he was struck head-on by another vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
It is custom, when an officer dies in the line of duty, for them to receive a funeral with full police honors. Because of the county-mandated restrictions on crowd sizes to thwart the spread of COVID-19, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office was unable to accommodate their fallen brother to the fullest extent.
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Crowd sizes in the area are restricted to 10 people at a time. The family arranged a small memorial service for the fallen deputy and recorded it explicitly for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office employees.
Officials were able to orchestrate positioning three marked Sheriff’s vehicles in the parking lot at the funeral home, and the Honor Guard presented honors in the lobby.
At this time, the Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez has authorized the deputies to wear their mourning badges for a full 30 days, ending April 18.
The Sheriff expressed that not being able to lay Senior Deputy Korzilius to rest in a traditional honors ceremony has put an extreme emotional burden on the deputies in the office.
That is not the end of the story, though. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office plans on having a memorial service with full honors for the fallen deputy as soon as the crowd restrictions are lifted.
Disclaimer: The Safety Watch article you just read includes information obtained from numerous sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, websites and press releases from law enforcement, the county coroner, fire departments, and other news outlets. While we strive to provide readers with the most accurate information, sometimes the information received is not entirely accurate. For complete details, please refer to an official police report.
The articles published contain sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read by some. We understand that losing a loved one is hard and devastating. Safety Watch’s decision to share the stories is to help others who may be facing the same situations by providing appropriate resources to the general public.