COPLEY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Across the country and throughout Northeast Ohio, ceremonies are taking place to honor fallen officers as part of National Police Week.
For a local couple, this time of year is very personal.
Wyatt Woodrell and his wife, Gabby Leon, were young children when they each lost their police officer fathers to line-of-duty deaths.
Decades later, they make sure to keep the legacies of their dads alive.
The couple took part in a 250-mile bicycle ride called the Road to Hope through the group Law Enforcement United.
It started in Atlantic City and arrived in Washington, D.C. on Monday for a ceremony that attracts officers and their families from all over the country.
"There's police officers in all of our communities serving to help us out, and anytime there's a loss of one, it's a significant event. It's loss to the family. It's a loss to the community," Woodrell said.
In 2001, his father, Pawnee County Sheriff Dwight Woodrell, was shot and killed while investigating suspicious activity outside an oil company in Cleveland, Oklahoma.
Wyatt was just 5 years old at the time.
"He went and approached the people to talk to them, and while talking to them, one of them pulled a gun and he shot him six times in the back," he said.
To get additional support when he was a kid, Wyatt Woodrell went to C.O.P.S. Kids Camp for surviving children of officers who died in the line of duty.
It was there that he met Gabby Leon, the daughter of Cleveland Police Officer Wayne Leon, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2000.
"It was so long ago, but it's still relevant. I think the community still feels the loss of Wayne Leon," Woodrell said.
Over the years, the kids, bonded by the tragedies, grew closer as adults, and they married in 2023. They lean on each other during the difficult times.
"It's something that's always there, something we're never gonna get passed, but we just want to help pay it forward and help out with the next generation," Woodrell said.
To that end, Woodrell said he returns to C.O.P.S. Camp each year with Gabby. They serve as mentors and give the kids the same kind of support they received.
"It kind of means the world to me because I think without these programs, I don't know where we'd be," Woodrell said.
The bike ride is a way for the couple, and so many others in or close to law enforcement, to honor all fallen officers.
"You lose over a hundred-plus officers a year," said Copley Detective Daniel Rafferty.
Rafferty drove a Copley police truck to lead the bikers into Washington, D.C.
"It's very simple. We're all family. We're all a community. We all stick together, and when we lose one of our family members, you need to be there for them," Rafferty said.
Copley police raised $9.500 to support this year's bike ride and other Law Enforcement United programs.
Woodrell said it's another way to honor his late father and father-in-law.
"It's just nice for people to reflect on and help be thankful for people who are out there every day making the sacrifice," Woodrell said.
