As the hearse carrying Cpl. Richard Scott Findley’s casket pulled in front of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Beltsville on Thursday, a young cadet was pulled from the ranks, his legs wobbly as the heat beat down on the crowd of hundreds from across the region.
But as Findley’s casket came into view and the order for police to salute was called, the cadet overcame his weakness, pulled away from the two officers helping him and saluted the fallen hero.
Honor and duty were the watchwords as Findley, 39, was laid to rest Thursday.
Findley was killed in the line of duty last week when a suspected car thief ran him over with a stolen truck in Laurel. He had stood in the truck’s path, firing his sidearm in a last-ditch effort to do his duty, police said.
“He was one of God’s anointed warriors,” said Sgt. Jeff Schreiber, who commanded the elite unit that Findley had rejoined in 2006. The squad had been disbanded a year earlier when Findley’s mentor, Cpl. Steven Gaughen, was killed in a shoot-out.
Findley was also a father of daughters Nicole, 9, and Lauren, 6, and a husband to Kelly Findley, 29, who wrote in the funeral program, “Rich, my husband, my soul mate, we not only had a perfect marriage, but were perfect for each other. … You were a man who was never afraid to show [our children] love and affection.”
Findley, a 10-year police veteran and a Beltsville volunteer firefighter for 20 years, also had a good sense of humor and a laugh to remember, friends and family said.
As a police officer, Findley was one of the best, colleagues said. And at the funeral, Prince George’s County Police Chief Melvin High posthumously promoted Findley to sergeant.
Schreiber recalled how Findley often thought outside the box.
In one instance, after smelling marijuana coming from a car and learning a canine unit couldn’t come quickly, Findley used his partner’s cell phone — which made the sound of a barking police dog — to convince the suspects a dog was nearby and to turn over their drugs, Schreiber said.
“There are so many memories, those signs, those traces in your homes and in your hearts that can and will remind you of him,” the Rev. J. Michael Quill said. “More recently, you can’t help but remember how he offered his life for the county, for the community, for us.”
