DALLAS (WFAA) – Police officers accompanied the son of a fallen police officer to his first day of school in Dallas.
It was a special day for a special little boy: the first day of kindergarten for Nico DeLaRocha.
Police officers from Sunnyvale and Dallas, including the Dallas Police Department’s mounted patrol, arrived before the first bell.
“This is a big day for him. He’s in kindergarten and we wanted to go out and show our support, which the officers were able to do,” said Dallas Police Sergeant George Aranda.
Nico’s father, Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Jose DeLaRocha, died suddenly last August.
“He was playing with his son in the kitchen that morning and fainted. His son Nico, who we are accompanying this morning, goes to his mother and says, ‘Daddy is on the floor,'” Aranda said.
DeLaRocha suffered a fatal heart attack and was unable to share this special moment with his son.
So officers from the Dallas Police Department stepped in to escort Nico to his first day of school.
Chief Eddie Garcia was there to hold his hand.
“When I take this little boy to school and hold his hand and see the smile on his face, I hope he always knows that we are family,” Garcia said.
It was an emotional moment for Nico’s mother and the officers to surround him with love and support.
Garcia, who also became emotional, said he wanted to be there, not just as an officer, but as a father figure.
“As a father, I know his father would have given anything to be here. That’s why I know he’s looking down on him today and smiling,” Garcia added.
And that’s how officers remember DeLaRocha, always with a big smile and a big heart that lives on in his little boy.
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