Fort Worth police, family of Garrett Hull take off for D.C. for fallen officer memorial

Police cars, firetrucks and ambulances lined the runway as the plane carrying Fort Worth police officers and Garrett Hull’s family took off for Washington D.C. on Saturday.

More than a dozen family members and Fort Worth officers will watch Hull’s name be added to the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial to honor Hull and other fallen officers during National Police Week.

Hull, 41, was shot on Sept. 14 by Dacion Steptoe, 23, one of three suspects Hull and other law enforcement officers were watching in connection with a string of armed robberies.

Sabrina Hull, Garrett Hull’s wife, said the generosity surrounding Saturday’s event meant the world to her.

“The pride that I feel over everybody coming out like this and the generosity ... I’m just completely overwhelmed,” she said at the Alliance Airport hanger Saturday morning.

“We are honoring one of our own and those he loved,” said Jimmy Pollozani, Fort Worth Police Department spokesman. “Officer Garrett Hull died protecting our great city. This is the least we can do to help keep Officer Hull’s legacy alive. We are forever grateful for his service throughout our community.”

Members of Cpl. Hull’s family, as well as friends and members of the Fort Worth Police Department, will attend the 31st Annual Candlelight Vigil honoring country’s fallen first responders.

“I know that I’m about to see my husband’s name on the wall of that memorial and that makes it so more real, so I’m just wrapping my brain around the reality of what our lives are now,” she said.

Hillwood Airways, a private charter airline owned by the Perot Company, donated the plane to Fort Worth police for the trip. At 11 a.m., the flight left Fort Worth Alliance Airport.

Hull served 17 years with the Fort Worth Police Department in the Special Response Team, the Narcotics Division, the Tactical Intelligence Division and the FBI task force.

Cpl. Hull was the seventh police officer in Texas to die in the line of duty last year.

The two other men allegedly involved in the robberies have been charged with capital murder in connection with Hull’s death. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty, according to court records.

This story was originally published May 11, 2019 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Fort Worth police, family of Garrett Hull take off for D.C. for fallen officer memorial."