A young Tennessee girl -- whose cop father was killed in the line of duty -- got to dance just like her classmates at her school’s father-daughter dance thanks to the generosity of police officers.
Jewel Warren, of Memphis, was escorted to her elementary school’s dance earlier this month by six police officers who stepped up to serve as substitutes for Jewel’s father, Tim Warren, a Memphis police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2011.
When Jewel received the invitation to the school dance, her mom, Betsy Warren, reached out to a fellow fallen officer’s widow, as well as the wife of a current officer, according to the Memphis Police Department, which posted about the dance on the department's Facebook page.
The two women, identified as Taylor Amen and Donna Kirk, got to work making sure Jewel could attend the dance in style, securing not only the six police officers but also red roses for Jewel, an appointment at a local hair salon, a 1972 Cutlass Supreme to ride to the dance in and funds for a dancing-friendly teal dress.
The women also recruited a professional photographer, Amanda Swain, to document the evening.
“I said, ‘I will not accept money but I’d be happy to do it,’” Swain told ABC News of her reaction to the request. “The emotion of it just blows me away.”
She said she gets "teary-eyed thinking about it” Swain said of the Sept. 4th dance. “Each officer had a red rose and some of them were dads too and so I’m sure their thoughts were thinking this could be my kid,” she added.
Swain says Jewel’s mom was at the dance as well, watching from the background, and has described the evening as “wonderful.”
The officers, according to Swain, were also the life of the party.
“These guys knew dances that I didn’t even know and I’m probably younger than them,” she said. “They led the line of kids dancing.”
In July of 2011, one of Memphis' Finest, Officer Tim Warren, was shot and killed in the line of duty while assisting...
Posted by Memphis Police Department est.1827 on Saturday, September 5, 2015
