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Albuquerque's Officer Daniel Webster remembered as model public servant

Officer Webster died on Thursday, one week after he was shot by a convicted felon during a traffic stop.

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Albuquerque Police Department/Reuters
Officer Daniel Webster, a nearly nine year veteran of the Albuquerque Police Department, is seen in an undated picture released by the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico. Officer Webster who was shot several times during a traffic stop on October 21, died in a hospital early Thursday, officials said.

Albuquerque Police Officer Daniel Webster died early Thursday morning after being shot outside of a pharmacy during a routine traffic shop Oct. 21.

Webster pulled over Davon Lymon for riding a motorcycle with a stolen license plate and, according to police, the suspect then shot the policeman multiple times before fleeing the scene. Authorities later found Mr. Lymon hiding in a shed with a handcuff on only one wrist.

“Officer Webster was the very best example of a life committed to public service, through his service to our country and to our community,” Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement Thursday morning.

Webster served in the US Army before working as a police officer for nine years. He was awarded Albuquerque police’s Uniformed Officer of the Year in 2013 and served as a representative on the local police union’s board of directors. Webster had previously been on detective duty, but recently returned to the streets because of a local officer shortage.

“It was impossible to know him and not love him,” Stephanie Lopez, the president of the union, told The Associated Press. “Dan was the type of person that would go above and beyond his call of duty…He would respond to make a difference.” 

Lymon had a criminal record, including voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery charges in 2001, to which he pleaded guilty, and aggravated battery and kidnapping charges in 2014 that were dismissed. 

Webster’s shooting came one day after the Albuquerque highway shooting of 4-year-old Lily Garcia. Supporters of strict gun laws are adding these cases to their reasons for reform. 

As The Monitor’s Henry Gass reported last week, the town of Red Wing, Minn., asked the city council to consider federal hate-crime protections for law enforcement. “Characterizing recent lethal attacks on police as part of a broader national crisis,” and proponents want to make attacks such as Lymon’s subject to hate crime prosecution.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

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