11:28 a.m.: Storm Youngstrom: "To me, he wasn't only my uncle, he was a hero and a father to me. He would always be there to comfort me."
Storm tells everyone she would like to become a CHP officer.
11:24 a.m.: Niece Storm Youngstrom, and son Alex Youngstrom, share memories of Kenyon with the audience.
11:18 a.m.: Youngstrom's brother Clinton tells the audience that Kenyon had a temper growing up and the family always thought he'd be in the back of a police car and not in front.
The audience laughs.
11:13 a.m.: Officer Tyler Carlton just finished speaking. Emotional speech. His voice was cracking and a round of applause as he ends. Youngstrom's brother is now addressing the crowd.
"He was our brother, our friend, our ultimate hero," he said.
Youngstrom's brother spoke of Kenyon's faith and love for his family. He loved being a CHP officer.
11:02 a.m.: Calhoun said that Kenyon was one of his favorites. A great guy who was always in a good mood.
10:58 a.m.: Retired CHP Capt. Jim Calhoun addresses the audience. Tells them he met Kenyon in 2005 at the academy.
10:46 a.m.: CHP Golden Gate Division Chief Theresa Becker is now addressing the crowd.
10:32 a.m.: The Mission Church in Vacaville is overflowed with mourners at this time. Pastor Phil Foley is leading the invocation. CHP Sgt. Farrow, Contra Costa CHP reads scripture.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow," plays while mourners quietly weep. Solemn looks on the faces of mourners.
10:18 a.m. Bagpipes are playing.
10:16 a.m. The church is full. Seating is only available outside. Hearse is there along with mounted officers. Leisure Town Road lined with police on both sides. Color guard is entering church with casket now.
9:58 a.m.: Set for 10 a.m., many continue to arrive in Vacaville for the funeral of Officer Kenyon Youngstrom, a resident of Fairfield The funeral is open to the public, but the seating is limited.
9:29 a.m.: Expect delays as officers from all over the state, and as far away as Reno, Nevada, are arriving for the funeral of CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom. In addition, delays have been reported along Interstate 80 as the funeral procession makes its way to Vacaville.
ABC7 News has a live video feed from the funeral.
Previously:
Police officers from as far east as Reno and south as Santa Barbara, Milpitas, San Mateo and Santa Barbara are at The Mission Church on Leisure Town Road in Vacaville.
The funeral was to start at 10 a.m. but the procession passed through Fairfield and Vacaville earlier this morning. Stay tuned to Patch for updates.
Hopefully we will learn more about these people, especially more about Mr. Lacy and his circumstances and that in time we may learn more about what actually happened there on 680. Just like when Officer Mehserle accidentally discharged his firearm into Mr. Grant at the Fruitvale Station on New Year's Day 2009, we will have to allow time to pass as folks gather up hopefully all of the facts about this case and decide what the next step is, here. Just because a Law Enforcement Officer is involved does not entitle those that back Law Enforcement a "white-washing" of the truth, even before the investigation or even the inquiry has finished and rendered their findings as well as recommendations on what to do next. Until then, I will wait and see what new information comes out.
I'm not going to sit here and let the ones who blindly follow what has been told to them, even by so-called "official" sources because of who they are or who they involve. Two people died in this incident. Just so happens that one of them was a CHP Officer. If we are going to show compassion for one, we need to show the same compassion for the other that died, too. Mr. Lacy's family probably also lost a loved member of their family that day, and so did Mr. Lacy's friends and neighbors, who are also wondering what happened here, too. Until we have all of the truth presented before us, we really should not be rushing to judgement.
I'm not going to sit here and blindly follow authority. Instead, I will question it and make sure that the answer I get makes sense and is rational. And from what I have heard and have read, and even driven over at that scene still does not make much sense to me over how two people wound up dead like that. Besides, I also know a few CHP officers myself and interact with them in my dealings in everyday life and what I saw with the folks out of Youngstrom's substation was that they were pretty tight-lipped with anybody who brought up the subject of Officer Youngstrom's death, even when all we wanted to do was express our sympathies and our condolences. To me, all that indicates is that there may be a lot more to this story than is officially being told us and that it is going to take some more time for the entire truth to be told about what actually happened there. And until that happens, I am not going to join the bandwagon of people posting here and elsewhere about how saintly the officer that died was or even pass judgment on the civilian that also died in that incident. As for my derision over the notion of a "revenue stop", that is actually based on my own personal experience here with California Law Enforcement and that those who heed that call seem to take a lot more risks than their Coloradoan counterparts do. If I'm handed a book telling me it's the Gospel doesn't necessarily make it THE Gospel.
RIP Officer Youngstrom and prayers to your family and friends for strength to get you through this difficult time.
And if there is dashboard camera footage out there, may all of it, unabridged, be made available to the public so we can all see what happened and what went wrong. And if Mr. Lacy had video or audio from his side of that incident, we should also see that, too.
Sorry, but it's just a minor infraction and there was probably nothing else wrong there unless that motorist was doing something that was an obvious threat to traffic and safety, which a "concealed tag" is not. As for my moniker, it actually comes from a bumper sticker in my homeland from the mid-1980s--"Don't Californicate Colorado!". And besides, "Californication" was actually used by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for both a song and an album back in 1999 if I remember right. And then there was Tom Kapinos out there writing down his ideas for a show loosely based on his experiences as a screenwriter from New York who moves down to Los Angeles to write for "Dawson's Creek". That show became "Californication" on Showtime in 2007. Besides, my people have a term for most outlanders who settle in the Front Range, especially from California, but I've heard it applied to most carpetbaggers--"the Californicates". It's a politely derisive term, especially applied to how one drives in Colorado, especially with California plates on their car. And over black ice, hopefully these folks remember to steer into the skid to regain control of the vehicle.
Worked the ovens at Auschwitz? Wow! Nice! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
You mention the other person that died that day deserves compassion and you have an issue with people deifying officer Youngstrom. Peolple are not deifying officer Youngstrom, they are simply recognizing his sacrifice and treating him like the true hero he is. Officer Youngstrom was shot and killed by Lacy. Lacy is a murderer and deserves no compassion. Officer Youngstrom and his partner probably saved lives that day by making sure Lacy is not here anymore to endanger anyone. Officer Youngstrom also saved four lives by donating his organs. He is a true hero and made the ultimate sacrifice and that is why people are saluting him.
Sorry, but in times like these where you even have cities, counties and state governments leaning on the tickets that Law Enforcement writes to increase the amount of money in their coffers, those wearing the uniform of Law Enforcement can only be trusted so far. Sometimes us chickens also have to watch the henhouse to ensure that the foxes assigned to watch over the henhouse are doing their jobs correctly. And as the Chris Butler case showed us recently in the very same County where Hercules is situated, not enough people out there were watching what their Law Enforcement community was doing and how it was co-opted by somebody in that community that "went rogue" and exploited his relationship with that community, both at the county and local levels, to do his and his clients' bidding for them. And even the whistleblower got fired. The plain truth is, we don't exactly know who our Law Enforcement personnel really are in California and whether or not they are of the highest quality and calibre, both in people and in character to the point that we have to question who is pulling us over and why.
What's really going on? The government gives grants and money to our police and fire departments and hospitals to make and playout these fake events. Look up and search HSEEP. 911 was a big HSEEP event. This event is starting to look more like one.
We are cutting off comments on this story. Everyone appears to have had their say. We try to keep the Patch forums open for everyone in the community to use no matter what their opinion. Unfortunately, on this article, there appears to be at least one person using it to simply anger and incite people.