Officer Rob Pitts was killed in the line of duty earlier this month.
Nearly 70 police officers and sheriff’s deputies in Indiana stood shoulder-to-shoulder to show their support of a 5-year-old boy returning to school for the first time since his father was killed in the line of duty.
Dakota Pitts’ father, Rob, was a 16-year-veteran of the Terre Haute Police Department. Tragically, on May 4, he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with a homicide suspect outside a Sullivan apartment complex.
On the day of his funeral, people lined the road and police from all over the state filled an auditorium as he was laid to rest and remembered.
Officer Pitts' patrol car became a memorial.
When it was time to return to school following his dad's funeral, Dakota had a simple request for his mom: Could his dad’s friends take him to school?
On Monday, Dakota was stunned when the army of cops lined the walkway to his school to welcome him back.
As he wore his dad's badge around his neck and walked up to Sullivan Elementary School, the SWAT team even gave Dakota his own shirt and badge.
"He will definitely know his dad was a hero," Pitts' sister, Kelli Jones, told WTHI-TV. "Blood doesn't always make family and I think the blue family went above and beyond."
Video of the incident was posted on Monday by WTHI-TV and has since gone viral.
WTHI-TV reporter Kiley Thomas also shared a powerful image of the cops waiting for Dakota.
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