Colleagues, friends unveil road sign to honor Lt. Debra Clayton

'Debra Clayton was true public servant,' Congresswoman Demings says

ORLANDO, Fla. – The members community, city officials law makers and the family of Lt. Debra Clayton came together on Monday to unveil the new memorial highway to honor her legacy in the community for her service.

Clayton was shot and killed in the line of duty in January.

Attendees included Orlando police Chief John Mina, Congresswoman Val Demings and City Commissioner Patty Sheehan.

As colleagues and family remember Clayton as a woman of great passion and fearless. Her aunt, Charlotte Woods, told the crowd that Clayton spoke to a family member three hours before she was shot and killed that she wasn't scared.

"When I took this job, I knew what the job entailed. She also told him that, 'If I get killed or die today or tomorrow I am in God's hands. I know where I am going,'" Woods told the crowd.

Woods wrote a poem in honor her late niece, called "Don't cry for me."

Demings reflected that she thought long and hard about what her first speech would be to the house floor in Washington, D.C., and little did she know that she would have to give a speech six days later as a tribute to Clayton.

Demings told the crowd that she will never forget the moment that she promoted Clayton to sergeant.

"Debra welcomed the new responsibility. She had an unbelievable sense of duty. Debra Clayton was a true public servant, " Demings said. 

Mina said that they never forget the ultimate sacrifice that she gave to the community.

Mina said that Clayton's memory is all over the police department, including a photo of her on his desk.
"I never want to forget the leader that she was in our community," he said.

Monday would have been Clayton's 43rd birthday. She will be honored later this year at the Fallen Officers Memorial in  Washington, D.C., and in Orlando.


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