Fellow Cops Take Fallen Hero’s Girls To Daddy Daughter Dance Because Sometimes The World Is A Great Place

I’m a total sucker for a sad story with a happy ending, and this one certainly doesn’t disappoint. Police officer Patrick O’Rourke was killed in the line of duty back in 2012, leaving his three daughters, 11-year-old Eileen, 9-year-old Mary and 6-year-old Andrea without a father.

Times has passed, and now, almost two years later, much of the pain has passed, but the girls were set to miss a serious right of passage; their school’s daddy daughter dance. So their dad’s fellow officers stepped in and escorted the girls in his stead. Excuse me, I think I have something in my eye…

In addition to Officers Joe Miller and Derek Case, who were both on the scene the day O’Rourke was killed, Officer Art Smith and the girl’s mom, Amy O’Rourke volunteered to attend the event and act at chaperones. Amy didn’t know the officers before the day her husband died, but she certainly considers them family now: According to the Detroit Free Press:

“We cry together. We laugh together. We try to heal. It’s all very raw. It’s all still very emotional. I told them they could take whoever they want.”

Patrick O’Rourke was only 39 when he was killed. He was one of five officers who responded to that fateful call, and died after being shot by a bulled that went through a bedroom door and into his neck. He was a 12 year veteran of the force and had married his high school sweetheart. Now I KNOW I have something in my eye.