Chicago Police Officer Thor Soderberg's Memory Honored at the DNC by His Widow

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Jennifer Loudon and her husband Thor Soderberg were going to become foster parents. They were going going to adopt a dog. Married for five years, they were best friends, and a lifetime together awaited them.

Thor Soderberg, 43, a Chicago Police officer, was killed in the line of duty on July 7, 2010, shot in the head and back by a rampaging man outside the police station.

His widow told her story at Thursday night's Democratic National Convention, accompanied by the parents of two other fallen police officers from Philadelphia and Cleveland.

"When I lost him, I had no idea it was impossible to lose so much in a lifetime, much less in a moment," Loudon said.

The Republicans are claiming the mantle of "law and order" in this election, frequently speaking of the need to protect and honor police. The Democrats, however, on the final night of their convention, delivered the message through several speakers that police lives matter to them, too.

Loudon described the life that mattered most to her and the values he brought to his job as a police officer.

"My husband and best friend ... joined the Chicago Police to help people. Once, he got a call about a boy who had stolen a belt. The boy only had a rope to keep his pants up. Thor negotiated and the charges were dropped. He also paid for the belt," she said. "He did not want that boy to start his life with a record. ...

"He knew effective policing required treating people with kindness and respect, especially when he was most often called to their worst moments."

In recent weeks, police officers have found themselves targeted by killers, and tensions in some communities between police and the people they are sworn to protect and serve are higher than they've ever been. Chicago is one of those cities.

And some police officers feel all who wear the badge have been wrongly tarnished by the actions of a few. Loudon and the others on the stage offered quiet testimony to what lives of public service mean.

Her husband helped the homeless and cleaned the gutters of his elderly neighbors. He was a good man, who brought those same values to his job as a police officer.

"I know in light of recent events, some of us have lost faith," Loudon said. "Let us honor all of the fallen officers who weren't named here today by acting as our officers did — helping others, bridging communities and building peace."

Watch her remarks, and those of Wayne Walker, whose son was a Philadelphia police officer, and Wayne and Barbara Owens, whose son was a Cleveland police officer.

They are preceded by Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez of Texas, who spoke of her own path to law enforcement and the Dallas police officers killed in the line of duty several weeks ago.