MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Family, friends and coworkers paid their respects during the Thursday funeral service for fallen Memphis Police Department Officer Demetrice Johnson.
Johnson becomes the 85th Memphis Police Officer to die in the line of duty after the catastrophic crash involving his MPD cruiser on August 2nd. He leaves behind a wife and young son after achieving his dream of becoming a MPD officer in March.
C’hosen Johnson said her husband was their superhero, their provider and the kind of father who once put a bounce house in their son’s bedroom. C’hosen needed help to walk down the isle as she bid farewell to her husband during the funeral at Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
She still remembers what she said when he told her he wanted to join MPD.
“‘I want you to be careful. Because it’s so dangerous now,’” C’hosen Johnson told those in attendance. “I said, ‘Don’t have nobody knock on my door and tell me something happened to you.’”
The church was full of the people whose lives Johnson had touched, as well as city leaders like Mayor Paul Young and Interim MPD Chief Cerelyn 'C.J.' Davis.
“At North Main, he was known as Jojo, Smiley, DJ and so much more,” said MPD Officer Jocelyn Freeman, who was stationed at the same precinct as Officer Johnson
Officer Freeman said Johnson seemed to lift up the lives of everyone around him.
“After losing a partner in April, I told myself ‘I’m not trying to get close to anybody again,'” she said. “But when Johnson came to the precinct, he brought a presence and a smile that we needed.”
So many people all said Officer Johnson loved two things dearly: being a police officer and his family.
“I remember the loud cheers and the roar in the audience as I pinned his badge,” said Interim Chief Davis. “And I asked him if he has brought the whole neighborhood to the graduation. And he happily replied to me, ‘Chief, that’s just my wife and my family.’”
C’hosen shared a story from the aftermath of the crash that claimed her husband’s life, how he was able to use his Apple watch to call for help for his fellow officer.
“Even in his last breath, he needed to serve, to save somebody else’s life,” C’hosen said. “He was able to call for help, even if he couldn’t help himself, he potentially saved his partner’s life. That’s honor all by itself.”
Mayor Young said that while he did not know Officer Johnson personally, it was clear talking to his family that he touched more lives in 34 years than most people do in 80.