Slain Cowlitz deputy honored by community

A Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot was remembered Wednesday as an extraordinary young man who was destined for greatness in a profession he had dreamed of joining since childhood.

The funeral for Deputy Justin DeRosier, 29, was packed with several thousand mourners, including hundreds of law enforcement officers who traveled from around the Pacific Northwest to honor him.

In Clark County, crowds gathered on Interstate 5 overpasses to view the mid-morning procession from the Cowlitz County Fairgrounds in Longview to the University of Portland’s Chiles Center. Local firefighters and police were joined along the roadways by citizens who sought to honor DeRosier and all law enforcement officers.

“I’m crying,” said Mark Haworth of Vancouver, as he viewed the procession from the Northeast 139th Street overpass in Salmon Creek. “It happens so often now. The guy was doing nothing but helping a motorist. It’s senseless violence; I don’t know how we stop it.”

Rachael Weeks brought her 11-month-old daughter, Remington Couch, to see the procession. “I’m just trying to show support the best way we know how,” said Weeks, who previously worked with DeRosier’s wife, Katie, at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.

DeRosier was shot April 13 while responding to a call about a disabled motorhome blocking a road outside of Kalama. He was able to take cover and call for assistance but died in surgery at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.

DeRosier was a graduate of Washington State University in Pullman. Sheriff Brett Myers of Whitman County, where DeRosier began his law enforcement career in an academy for reserve deputies, remembered him as someone who “had too many questions, always had an answer for everything and sometimes didn’t know his place in the pecking order.”

Soon, though, Myers came to appreciate DeRosier’s energy and nicknamed him “Boy Wonder” before hiring him onto his force, where DeRosier excelled and inspired others with his attitude.

“Justin was an extraordinary person who did extraordinary things. Justin was one of a kind, he was larger than life and just plain fun to be around,” Myers said. “He never, ever complained. For him everything seemed to be an opportunity to do more, to learn more and be more.”

Woodland Police Chief James Kelly, who has known DeRosier since he coached him in T-ball at age 5, recalled delivering the horrific news to DeRosier’s parents.

“The drive from the scene to your house was the longest drive of my life. How was I going to tell my friends their son had been shot? I had no words,” Kelly said to DeRosier’s parents as they sat in the front row.

“Justin was destined to be someone special. It was clear Justin had a plan and he was going to stick to it,” he said. “I was excited to see who he was going to be.”

“Justin did everything right that night, but heaven called for that ‘Boy Wonder’ — that extraordinary hero — to answer a new call home,” Myers said.

“I am just sorry his calling came sooner than expected.”