Story by Alex Wiederspiel, WKMZ
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — They didn’t die in vain.
That’s the message from Timothy A. Ferguson, Acting Assistant Director of FBI-CJIS in Clarksburg.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think any of us can look around at our communities, our country, and say we don’t have the best country in the world,” Ferguson said.
That was Ferguson’s message following a ceremony honoring fallen WVSP Sgt. Cory Maynard and more than 300 other officers and agents at the annual Memorial Ceremony for West Virginia Law Enforcement Officers.
“I as a law enforcement officer feel that everybody that I look around and see is worth it,” Ferguson said. “A lot of times we hear, ‘thank you for your sacrifice.’ And I think the response to that should be, ‘you were worth it.’ And I think, at the end of the day, they fell for something that was bigger than themselves.”
Some family members of fallen officers typically make the trip from across the state each year. Some come from further away — like the family of Sgt. Maynard. Others, like the family of Derek Hotsinpiller, are a little closer to home. Hotsinpiller died in 2011. He was shot and killed while serving a warrant with two other deputy marshals and members of WVSP at a home in Elkins.
“They fell because they believed in what we had — a system of justice that we have and the system of law that we have,” Ferguson said. “They believed in making their country safe.”
Maj. James Mitchell, WVSP Chief of Staff, said Maynard was a throwback who believed in community policing.
“He served very faithfully with an attitude of community,” Mitchell said. “He wanted to talk to people, to get involved with people, and to get to know them on a personal level.”
Maynard, 37, died last June responding to a shooting that injured Benjamin Baldwin, 39, of Matewan. Maynard was reportedly ambushed and would die later of his injuries at Logan Regional Medical Center.
Timothy Kennedy, 29, of Beech Creek, is facing multiple charges in connection to the shooting of Baldwin, the murder of Maynard, and the shooting of another trooper. He pleaded not guilty in February.
“Everything that we do has a potential danger factor to it,” Mitchell said. “We don’t think about it every day. We can’t. We just look at it as our duty. We’re glad to serve. I think it’s a calling that we come out here every day. We don’t think about what could happen. We know the reality, but we gladly thankfully serve every single day.”
The 90-minute ceremony features the names of officers dating as far back as the 19th century.