Hundreds of friends, family and fellow officers turned out to pay their respects to a young RCMP officer who was killed in the line of duty. 25-year-old Cst. Chelsey Robinson died in a crash Monday after being on the job just seven months. On Saturday, the funeral for the Picture Butte native took place in Lethbridge.
A police motorcade led the vehicle carrying Robinson's casket to the church followed behind it by a sea of Red Serge.
Officers inside the vehicles were hardly able to contain their emotions. Outside the church, family members gathered to support one another as the coffin arrived.
Family members describe Robinson as a beloved daughter, a caring, intelligent and considerate person.
"Magnificent. Brilliant. Phenomenal. She was great," commented Dave Lutterotti, Robinson's brother-in-law.
Members of the Picture Butte Fire Department have known Robinson since she was three-years-old when her father joined their detachment. They say the loss has been devastating.
"Everybody's taking it very hard. Chelsey was very close to all of us," said Dave Feist with the Picture Butte Fire Department.
Robinson was killed Monday while investigating reports of a drunk driver near Stony Plain. Her police cruiser collided with a semi. She later died in Edmonton hospital.
"It kind of brings to light of how dangerous and how risky police activities can be and it just shows that we have to be at a constant high awareness of the risk of police work when we're going through our duties," said RCMP spokesperson Tim Tamaguchi.
Robinson is the 50th officer to die in the line of duty. The majority of those were traffic related incidents.
RCMP say several hundred more officers wished to be present for Saturday's funeral, but were unable to because of their deployment to the G8 and G20 summits.
