POULSBO, Wash. (KGTV) — Heavy emotions weighed on the wife of a San Diego police officer killed in the line of duty more than three decades ago.
“It brings everything back in a flood of emotions and memories,” said Wendy Pate.
An emotional Pate spoke over Zoom from her home in Washington state after hearing about the deadly crash that claimed the life of a San Diego police officer.
"It's like going through a little bit of grief all over again when I hear it because I know the impact it has on a family,” Pate said.
The morning her family's life changed forever was a foggy September day in 1991. Her husband, 24-year-old Ron Davis, had been a San Diego police officer for two years when he was shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence call at a Skyline apartment complex.
“I remember, it was all a blur,” Pate said.
Pate received an early morning knock at the door.
“The police chief doesn't come to your door at four o'clock in the morning to have coffee, and I remember not wanting to open the door,” Pate recalled.
The death of her husband left her two sons without a father: Luke, 1, and Matt, 4.
Sixteen years later, Matt took his own life.
"He just was never able to cope with the whole situation, and it caused a lot of depression,” Pate said.
The tragedy also shaped her life in other ways. Inspired in part by her husband's service, she became a police officer in Washington a few years after his death. Later, she led a chapter of a nonprofit supporting the loved ones and coworkers of officers killed in the line of duty.
"I really enjoyed the aspect of helping people and being involved in the community,” Pate said.
Her son Luke also followed in his parents’ footsteps, becoming a correctional officer decades after the on-duty shooting. The shock and pain of that day is something another family is now feeling.
“I know exactly what they're going through. Your officer goes out to work and never comes home … It’s nothing you ever get over. I just feel for the family and the survivors,” Pate said.
