'Most compassionate person': Polk deputy's name added to wall at Peace Officers Memorial

LAKELAND — The name of a Polk County sheriff's deputy who died last year of COVID-19 was added to a memorial wall Thursday morning during the 34th annual Peace Officers Memorial at Lakeland Veterans Park.

Polk County sheriff's deputy Christopher Broadhead died in August after contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty. The nine-year deputy was a father of five, three being his stepchildren.

“Broadhead had a broad smile and even broader ability to make his colleagues and family laugh,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at Broadhead's August funeral service.

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The Polk County Sheriff's Office, Fraternal Order of Police Polk County Lodge #46 and the Polk County Law Enforcement Memorial Fund Inc. brought Polk County law enforcement and their families together Thursday to honor local officers who lost their lives in the line of duty as long ago as 1886 from state, county and local law enforcement and corrections agencies.

After a joint agency color guard marched and presented flags to the sound of bagpipes, a selection of the Star Spangled Banner by the Sheriff's Office's Maderican Warner, the pledge and a prayer, Judd spoke about Broadhead's legacy and shared words from a letter sent to the Sheriff's Office from the son of a suicide victim Broadhead helped. Judd said the letter succinctly outlines the broad love Broadhead had for the community.

"Deputy Sheriff Broadhead was the finest, most compassionate person," Judd read from the letter. "Throughout this horrible event, his attention to detail was remarkable. He was absolutely great to my mother who was an absolute wreck. The respect he showed my mother will never be forgotten."

Judd said, no matter the tragedy someone may be experiencing, Broadhead had "broad shoulders to help them shoulder their pain." He said Broadhead didn't only give his life protecting the county but left the community better than he found it.

After Judd spoke, FOP Polk County Lodge #46 President John Sheffield read the 36 Polk County fallen officers' names on the memorial wall while family members held on to the arm of a law enforcement officer from their loved-one's agency. Family members were escorted to the wall to place a rose on the carved names.

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Sheffield read the names of law enforcement officers from the Sheriff's Office, Lakeland Police Department, Fort Meade Police Department, Bartow Police Department, Winter Haven Police Department, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Haines City Police Department and Frostproof Police Department.

The memorial service was concluded with a helicopter fly over, a three-shot volley and the playing of Taps by a joint agency honor guard bugler.

Broadhead's wife and former deputy Elisa Broadhead told The Ledger that she enjoyed seeing her husband's name engraved into the memorial wall for the first time. She said there has been an outpouring of love and support from law enforcement and civilians nationwide.

"Sending cards, just reaching out any way they can to show their support, has been overwhelming in a grateful way," Elisa Broadhead said.

She said kind gestures still come in, even from other cities and states.

She said she often has to take her two young girls, ages 1 and 2, with her for simple runs that could be quicker if her partner were still here to help.

"That's always been the hardest thing since he left," Elisa Broadhead said. "I do an errand that takes 10 minutes and people want to give me a hard time because I bring the girls and it's like, 'Sorry, I don't have the luxury of just dropping them off somewhere every time I need to do something for 10 minutes.' It's not that convenient."

She said her older teenage boys, who will be going off to train for the military soon, help her out as much as they can.

"My boys have stepped up a lot," Elisa Broadhead said. "My older two are 18 and 19, so they're getting ready to leave for training. My oldest just finished boot camp, so he's here for another few days and then he ships out to do his training and then my 18-year-old goes to do his training in June, so that's going to be a hard change for me."

Elisa Broadhead said she was a single parent with her two boys before she met Broadhead when they worked together at the Sheriff's Office, and losing a partnering parent feels different from simply being a single parent.

"This wasn't expected, this wasn't planned," She said. "This was never a thought."

She said one of the heaviest things on her heart regarding the loss of her husband is that their daughters will never have a chance to have a relationship with Broadhead.

"I'm just grateful that people remember him and think of him and us and reach out," she said. "Even just the simplest 'sorry for your loss,' it's knowing that he's remembered, he's not forgotten and that it wasn't for nothing."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Christopher Broadhead, deputy who died of COVID, enshrined on memorial wall