Remembering Pearland PD Officer Endy Ekpanya
PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- Family, friends and hundreds of men and women in law enforcement said goodbye to Pearland PD Officer Endy Ekpanya Tuesday at Grace Community Church.
"You hear a lot of people talk about Endy's infectious smile, but one of the things that I'll always remember is that he was the most respectable man I will ever come across," said Sgt. Adam Carroll, one of Ekpanya's supervisors.
He, like so many, shared stories of their tight-knight department. Carroll recalled Ekpanya giving several guys a good laugh when he showed up to cover flooding after a light rain.
"He (Ekpanya) shows up wearing the biggest pair of rubber knee high water boots that I have ever seen and he was the only one wearing them. So we all got a good kick out of it and start laughing," Carroll said.
There are laughs and there are tears as officers and friends swap stories about Ekpanya. His colleagues say the feeling inside the department has changed over the past week.
"It's quiet. We try to remember all the good stuff, all the smiles, certainly the rubber boots," Carroll said. "It's difficult. It's just not easy."
Officer Endy Ekpanya's widow didn't prepare a speech, but instead spoke from the heart.
VIDEO: Mourners set up memorial for Pearland officer killed in car crash
EXPECT DELAYS DURING PROCESSION
Following the service, a procession will take Officer Ekpanya from the church north on I-45 to Beltway 8. The procession will continue west on the Beltway to Pearland Parkway, where it will turn south and head to E. Broadway/FM 518. It will then travel west on Broadway to Main/SH 35, where it will then travel north to the South Park Cemetery, 1310 N. Main, Pearland.
