Impromptu Memorial Held For Pierce County Deputy Who Died On Duty

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — Community members held an impromptu memorial event Wednesday night to honor the life of a Pierce County deputy who died suddenly while on patrol earlier this week.

Deputy Sheriff Daryl Shuey, 57, died Tuesday while on patrol in the Spanaway area. The Sheriff's Department says he was killed by an apparent medical emergency, collapsing in a parking lot along Pacific Avenue.

Shuey had served with the department since 1994.

To honor Shuey's decades of service to his community, Wednesday night dozens of Pierce County residents put together a surprise memorial, forming a procession line from the Sprinker Recreation Center, past the lot where Shuey passed away, all the way to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department's Parkland-Spanaway Precinct, where Shuey was stationed. Once outside, they built a memorial to the fallen deputy at the precinct's entrance.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, many of the mourners also made donations to a legacy fund that has been set up to support Deputy Shuey's wife and two children. In a Facebook post shared Thursday, a sheriff's department spokesman says the community's compassion and concern means the world to them:

"Words cannot describe how much this act of compassion and generosity means to all of us at the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputy Daryl Shuey was one of our senior patrol deputies and could have chosen to work in any of our patrol districts. Year after year, he signed up to serve in our busiest area of central patrol in Parkland-Spanaway. It was not close to his home, but it was close to his heart - he believed that was where he was needed most."

The legacy fund for Shuey's family is being organized by Crime Stoppers of Tacoma/Pierce County. To learn more, or to donate to the fund, visit the Crime Stoppers website here.