ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A Winter Springs boy ran alongside the Orange County Sheriff's Office on Thursday evening.
During the annual Corporate 5K along Lake Eola, Zechariah Cartledge, 10, ran with Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
Zechariah said that he wanted to honor the fallen deputies of the department.
"It makes me feel really touched inside, but it also makes me feel like that if all these people watched the videos, they found out about the officers I ran for and found out more about them," said Cartledge.
News 6 first showed viewers little Zechariah last month while he was carrying his flag. He said that he has run more than 100 miles for officers killed in the line of duty.
“Sheriff Mina pushes me to my limit, and he did amazing today as well, so, I want to thank Orange County a lot," said Cartledge. “It’s not about the time, it’s about running for the officers, running to respect them and I’m just glad that we did it."
Sheriff Mina said that it's moving to see a 10-year-old with passion to honor the people to protect and serve.
"It’s truly amazing. It makes me smile really big inside," said Mina. “We’ve all lost friends in the line of duty and it hits home. And we think about that all the time and then when our community members especially someone so young thinks about our fallen officers, as well it means the world to us.”
Cartledge also said it was inspiring to watch the deputies run in full uniform.
"I asked the sheriff how much gear he was wearing on him. He said about 25 pounds. I was like, 'Oh my gosh that's like half of me,'" said Cartledge.
You can follow Cartledge on his journey to honor fallen officers on his Facebook page.