GREENWOOD — Services began today for fallen Indiana State Trooper Aaron Smith in Greenwood.
Smith was killed last week when an 18-year-old man driving a stolen car struck him while fleeing. Smith was hit while trying to deploy spike strips.
“It’s the sacrifices — the depths — and how far it goes generationally,” Pamela Kreps said.
Kreps, a Johnson County resident, was one of the hundreds of people who showed up to the Emmanuel Church Greenwood Campus to pay their respects for fallen Trooper Smith.
“He went to my church,” Kreps said.
She says she felt compelled to show her respects. She heard his car was at the church and wanted to say her goodbyes.
Kreps described Trooper Smith as a man of faith and man who meant so much to his community.
“Hug your family every day. Kiss them. Tell them that you love them,” Kreps said.
Thursday's visitation was a community’s way of saying thank you to a man they called their hero.
“I left yesterday afternoon. I stopped midway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and kept driving today," Master Trooper Edwards said.
Edwards, with the Florida Highway Patrol, says he drove hundreds of miles to support his brothers and sisters in blue.
“It symbolizes a great loss — One that we can’t quantify, that can’t be captured in words,” Edwards said.
Edwards says that Trooper Smith’s loss is something that you can’t put into words.
He adds that departments from all over are mourning the loss.
“We just had a drill three days prior to the incident. We were doing a 10K run at Camp Atterbury,” Sgt. Andrea Burkman with the Indiana National Guard said.
Burkman says she and Trooper Smith met when training to be Warrant Officers.
She says they trained together for about a year. She described Trooper Smith as one of the best human beings that she ever met.
“[He] never complained, and never had anything bad to say about anyone,” Burkman said.
State Trooper Josh Thayer was also on site to pay his respects to Trooper Smith. Thayer says he was part of Smith's recruitment class.
“He was the most caring, lighthearted guy that you could have ever met. We are going to miss him dearly,” Thayer said.
