Nicholasville Police Officer laid to rest

JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky (WTVQ) – Law enforcement officers and first responders are considered a nationwide family and that family showed itself on Tuesday as they said goodbye, one last time, to Officer Burke Rhoads.

“Celebrating the life of perhaps the most gentle man I have ever known,” Reverend Canon Johnnie Ross says.

Officer Rhoads was killed in the line of duty, when his squad car was involved in a multi-vehicle called, Wednesday, March 11th.

“Down to his very bones he was nice,” says Ross. “In fact I once told him, ‘I couldn’t imagine being pulled over by you, you would nice me to death.’”

“If Burke was here I believe he would tell me that none of this is necessary,” Nicholasville Police Chief Barry Waldrop says. “He would tell me to get you guys back on the street taking care of our community.”

Police officers and first responders from all over Kentucky and all over the country attended Officer Rhoads’ funeral at Southland Christian Church’s Harrodsburg Road campus.

After the funeral, a procession of hundreds of squad cars, fire trucks, ambulances and personal cars lead Officer Rhoads to Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Jessamine County.

Officer Rhoads was buried at Camp Nelson because he was a veteran of the US Army.