Deputy Sheriff Dean Francis Miera

My son and I had just moved back to New Mexico in June 2010. I had a great new job near the airport, so I asked special permission from APS to enroll my son, Isaac, at Kirtland Elementary School, so he could be near by (we had moved in with my Mom, in Alameda, so otherwise my son would be across town during the school day, and I knew he might have trouble in school because his father had just deployed to Afghanistan from Fort Bliss, El Paso, and my son was very close with his Dad). My son's birthday is Nov. 2, and his Dad was going to fly out on Nov. 29th, 2010, so for my son's birthday he went to El Paso to spend a few precious special days with his Dad, and so he missed a few days of school. On my lunch hour, I decided to go by his school to find out if I should bring home any missed school work for the days my son would be absent. But the school was shut down. Something terrible had happened right at the school's main city intersection; Gibson & Carlisle, and I remember feeling relieved that whatever it was, at least I didn't have to deal with it! By simple luck, my son wasn't at school that day, so I wasn't inconvenienced by the school's shut down. I only found out later that night, on the 10 o'clock news, what had happened. And I was surprised by how terrible I felt, for being so pleased I was spared any trouble, when a good man, and a cop! had suddenly, inexplicably, and tragically been killed in a freak accident, right outside my son's school. When my son came home a few days later, we went by the intersection, and read some of the notes and signs left in memory of Deputy Miera. It's been almost a decade since that sad day, but every year at Halloween, and only a couple days before my son's birthday, I say a prayer, and I am grateful for the police men and women who are out there looking out for all of us. It was a terrible tragedy that took Deputy Miera from his family too soon; and a lesson for myself, about what really does matter as we go about our day. God bless Deputy Dean Miera, and his family. I am so sorry for his loss. Thank you for letting me tell my story. Thank you.

Emma Schulte

March 1, 2019