‘It’s all about respect’

Posted by Arlyssa Becenti | Mar 31, 2016 | News |

Family, bikers pay tribute to Alex Yazzie and all police officers

RED VALLEY

Miranda Yazzie let out her tears as she gripped the American Flag that had just been folded and placed in her hands in honor of her husband, Navajo Nation Police Officer and U.S. Marine Corp veteran Alex Yazzie, who was killed one year ago in the line of duty.

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
A photograph of fallen Navajo police officer Alex Yazzie stands in the middle of a memorial site along Navajo Route 5 in Red Valley, Ariz.

During the ceremony, light snow fell at the site where Yazzie was fatally shot by suspect Justin Fowler after he led officers in a car chase ending in a gun fight, which also left two officers wounded as well as killing Fowler. This was the site where Miranda chose to honor her late husband by holding the flag folding ceremony, which followed a memorial bike ride that included over 50 motorcyclists riding from Shiprock to Red Valley/Cove.

“It’s really hard, it’s like this is all you have left of him that we can hold closely to go to the hearts of my children and I,” Miranda said. “This is something I thought I would never have to go through.”

Miranda thought of the bike ride because Yazzie had started to ride his own Harley Davidson, which he had bought in 2013 after learning how to ride a Kawasaki. Miranda recalled when her husband was first learning to ride.

“When he started to learn, he ran into my brother’s fence … he just laid there and laughed,” she recalled with a chuckle. “But once he got it, we would go on several rides together.”

Of the 50 or so bikers who made the ride, only a few rode up to the site of the ceremony on top of the Chuska Mountains east of Buffalo Springs due to the cold and snowy weather.