A ceremony to honor fallen Richmond police officer Daniel Ellis will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday at the police department, 1721 Lexington Road.
Telmate, a California company that provides communications services to jails, prisons and law enforcement agencies, will donate an undisclosed amount to the Daniel Ellis Foundation Inc.
Telmate representatives, Kentucky State Police and local law enforcement officials are expected to attend the ceremony.
Katie Ellis, Daniel Ellis’ widow, said the fund was established to help promote her husband’s message of doing good in the community. Katie Ellis will accept the award along with their 4-year-son, Luke.
“Daniel was definitely a family guy, and his greatest joy was being with Luke,” Katie Ellis said in a news release. “Luke’s been to a lot of memorials, so he knows the graveside is the stone just for Daddy. He realizes the memorial in Washington, D.C., is for all police officers. Best of all, Luke remembers good times that they shared together.”
Daniel Ellis, 33, a senior patrol officer, died Nov. 6, 2015, two days after being shot while trying to arrest an armed robbery suspect at an apartment in the 500 block of Ballard Drive.
Ellis served seven years with the Richmond Police Department and was in line for a promotion to detective.
“He had a reputation for helping people and being a good person,” Katie Ellis said in the news release, “which is where the inspiration for the foundation came from. Our mission is to continue to do good in the community the way Daniel would have.”
Donations from the foundation, a nonprofit corporation founded in late 2015, have been able to help people who have suffered the death of a spouse or a child, or who have faced medical expenses or have been victims of a fire. “It’s really helped the healing for me to be able to continue to be positive,” Katie Ellis said.
“I want people to know he was the best officer, husband, father, and person he could ever have been,” she said.
The Telmate Fallen Heroes Program is one of the company’s community outreach programs. Every month, nominees are presented to a committee and one individual or organization is selected to receive a scholarship/donation to support families of fallen officers or organizations selected by those families.
