Representing the blue: Out-of-state first responders make trek to Myrtle Beach funeral
Despite working hundreds of miles apart, a father and son cop duo came together in Myrtle Beach to pay their respects to a fallen officer.
Phil Webster, chief of police in Nags Head, North Carolina, and Phillip Webster, with the police department in Savannah, Georgia, were two of the hundreds of police and community members that came to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Thursday evening to mourn Myrtle Beach officer Jacob Hancher.
Phil Webster, who used to work for the North Myrtle Police Department for 25 years, said he considers Grand Strand police officers a large family to him.
“There is a community of police officers that support [Hancher’s family] and grieve with them,” he said.
Hancher was killed during a shooting Oct. 3. The shooting happened about 10 p.m. on Yaupon Drive and 14th Avenue South. Hancher was memorialized on Friday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center during a public funeral.
The Websters said they felt it was important to pay their respects for a fallen officer in their hometown.
“I have a lot of friends in this department. I consider them family. I grew up with them. I went to college with them,” Phillip Webster said.
Retired New York City Fire Department Cpt. Tom Damore said he made it a point to show support for fallen first responders from other law enforcement agencies, especially after 9/11.
“A lot of people from this area and other areas of the country all came up to help us when we needed the help with 9/11,” Damore said. “It’s only right that we try to support them in their time of need also.”
Damore, who has lived in the Myrtle Beach area for more than a decade, said he tries to go to all officer funerals in the region.
“Any time a firefighter or police officer in the Myrtle Beach area dies, I try and go to that one, too, to show my respect and give my support,” he said.
“It’s important to support each other, especially when you lose someone. The family can only do so much. Us firefighters and police officers, we feel like we’re an extended family.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 8:35 AM.
