A viral video shows Chetek Police Officer Emily Breidenbach dancing with children at a community event, and people who knew her say it captures the kind of positive person and community-oriented officer she was.
Breidenbach was one of two Barron County police officers to lose their lives in an exchange of gunfire over the weekend during a traffic stop. Hunter Scheel, of the Cameron police force, was the other office who died. The Wisconsin Department of Justice has named the suspect as Glenn Perry, 50, a county resident who was wanted on a warrant in a contentious divorce case. Perry is also deceased.
The video showed Breidenbach dancing at Chetek's Liberty Fest:
Tributes flooded in for both officers. Lane Yost took the video of Breidenbach dancing.
She wrote on Facebook, "It's been a whirlwind social media 24 hours. I took the video of Emily at Liberty Fest in Chetek last summer as I watched a wonderful display of 'community policing'. She was a natural."
According to Yost, "I shared it on my FB page about a day ago. As of this writing, it has about 2,300 "likes" and has been viewed around 200,000 times."
Yost said she gave news organizations permission to run the video if "the privacy of the people/ children not involved be respected and blurred out, and second was that the news outlets vigorously promote the memorial fund timely established for Emily and agree to do the same when a memorial is decided upon for Hunter, the Village of Cameron fallen officer."
"A memorial fund has been set up at Sterling Bank under "City of Chetek - Emily Breidenbach Memorial Fund." 427 Second Street, PO Box 106, Chetek, WI 54728. Separate contributions can be made to our Police Department if desired, please direct those to City Hall," according to the Ward 4 alderman.
Yost added: "I am hoping the result is an outpouring of support and gratitude for the service of these young and dedicated officers taken from us in the line of duty. They truly deserve to be remembered well."
The Chetek Ward 4 Alderman wrote on Facebook that Breidenbach "was a wonderful part of our Chetek community and that single word barely scratches the surface. I never once saw her without a smile on her face. I will miss our meet ups on Halloween to supply her with chocolate because all she had in the squad was 'crappy candy.' Emily, we will take good care of Grizz! We also mourn with Cameron PD on the joint loss of their officer."
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