There is no doubt Jaime loved life. His smile and his heart were as big as Texas, and he would always come running if someone needed help.

After graduating from High School, he joined the US Marine Corps. Eight years later, after a combat tour in Iraq, he come home, finished college, and graduated from the Police Academy.

Always a family man, after his divorce he moved down to Austin to be with his kids. He took a demotion, and a pay cut, to work the day shift so he could spend time with his children. Last Friday, that decision cost him his life.

He was the officer who responded to a report of a shoplifter at one of the area WalMarts. The man, a drunk or drugged out computer engineer, had stuffed his backpack with software and computer games and run out of the store. Jaime pursued him and when he tried to handcuff the struggling man, they were both knocked to the ground. The man pulled a pistol out of his backpack and shot Jaime at point blank range. Jaime never even reached for his weapon.

His memorial service in Austin was attended by over 5000, many of them police officers from out of state. When his body was brought home, every little Texas town along the way (a journey of 5 hours) had people silently lining the streets with heads bowed in prayer. And his funeral service today was literally standing room only; many people had to wait outside.

Jaime loved kids, not only his own, but all kids. He volunteered precious time to work with the Law Enforcement Explorer Post (a Boy Scout organization), figuring that if he could get at-risk kids to join in an LEEP, they would have that much more of a chance to keep out of gangs. He volunteered to instruct at several Law Enforcement Explorer academies, and one thing he would do was climb up the rappelling tower with them.

As I would hook the Explorer up to the rope, Jaime would laugh and kid around with them in his soft voice, calming them down and making sure they were focused. More than once, if a Scout froze up and couldn't take that first step off the ledge, he would hook up as well, and rappel down the tower with them, one step at a time. I didn't find out until years later that he was deathly afraid of heights; he wasn't sweating because of the heat.

Now he's gone, and the world is a little worse off for his absence.

Vaya con Dios, Jaime, you will be missed. And Semper Fi.

I hope no one exploits his death for karma.

By the way, please DO NOT karma this post.

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