Every summer the Thin Blue Shoreline Ride happens in honor of the police men and women who died in the line of service.
Riders travel for 4 days biking over 360 miles from Stevensville Michigan and today they finished up the ride at Petoskey Brewing Company with stops on the way.
Yesterday they made a stop in Traverse City, to honor some of the members that have family in the area.
“It means a lot,” said Susan Shelton. Daughter of fallen Police Officer. Growing up without a dad is hard. But to know that people appreciate what he did is huge.”
The Blue Shoreline Ride occurs once a year, with active and retired police officers riding in honor of the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice. Family members of the fallen officers gathered to remember their loved ones.
“One of the officers was just asking me, do I have some strong recollections of my dad?, said Shelton. “And I actually do. I was only seven years old when he was killed, but he did a lot with us. He’s the person who taught me how to clean a fish after when fishing. So, at seven, I was cleaning fish with him. You know those are the fun memories.
“Learning how to ice skate, learning how to play baseball, he didn’t care whether you’re a boy or girl. We all played baseball in the neighborhood. He used to mow a diamond behind our house so that all the neighborhood kids could come there to play. Same thing with the ice rink. All the neighborhood kids came to skate on the rink. So, he was always that guy that wanted to do something for you. He was he was the guy that would give you his shirt off his back. And he was he was well known in the community.”
Shelton’s father, Leroy Imus was an officer for the Sterling Heights Police Department. He died while making a traffic stop and was hit by a drunk driver. Tom Coombs a retired officer is riding in honor of him.
“I think it provides them with the ability to kind of work through the grief of what happened,” said Coombs. “To remember and honor, you know, their loved one. And I think for us police officers it’s our job. To come along and promote and make sure that officers are not forgotten. The officer I rode for this year, he was killed December 2nd of 1971. We call that a historical, person. And the goal that we want is that we don’t want a name to be forgotten.”
Coombs didn’t know Imus’ family before this, but he knows that what he is doing is helping them along their journey.
Shelton felt the impact of losing her father at a young age. She said it affected her mother and 3 siblings too, but the community of law enforcement officers surrounded their family.
“It actually created a new community around us,” said Shelton. “With our church, with the police department. You for all of the officers that worked with my dad became surrogate fathers for us. If we needed something, they made sure we had it. They’d show up, you know, at little league games. They’d show up at school events. Just to show that they cared.”
Imus left a legacy throughout the community, with a park dedicated to him
He was willing to give back,” said Susan. “You know, he might have pulled you over and given you a ticket, but he also made of, the next time giving you a break. And people knew that about him. He knew when he could do that for you.”