N.C. Adult Corrections Officer Sam Poloche was laid to rest Monday, following a memorial service in Uptown Charlotte. His funeral caps two weeks of mourning after four officers were killed on April 29.
Poloche, a member of the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force, was shot in a northeast Charlotte neighborhood while attempting to serve warrants on a suspect.
He was honored Monday afternoon at First Baptist Church on Davidson Street. A service for fallen Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, who was also killed in the shooting, was held at the same church on May 3.
Similar to the procession for Eyer, a caisson unit carried Poloche’s casket from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Law Enforcement Center in Uptown to the church where services will be held.
"Sam's life is reflected in John 15:12-13," reads an inscription on the program of Monday's service. "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friend."
After the service, Poloche was taken to Lakeland Memorial Park in Monroe for his burial. The services were not open to the public.
Poloche, 42, was born in Valencia, Venezuela and moved with his family to the U.S. when he was 9 months old, according to his obituary. He grew up in Florida's Orlando area.
Both William Alden Elliott and Poloche worked for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction for 14 years, starting out as probation and parole officers and later working as part of the Special Operations and Intelligence Unit assigned to the U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force.
“They loved their work, and were passionate about their roles in protecting our communities,” Department Secretary Todd Ishee said in a news release. “These officers died as heroes and made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to our state. We remember them, we honor their service, we send our deepest condolences to their families and friends, and we pray for healing for all affected by this tragic incident.”
Poloche was a charter member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Rockingham, according to head elder Milton Aguilar.
“He had a heart for community,” Aguilar said, adding he had known Poloche since the early 2000s. “It’s really unfortunate to see how abruptly his life ended here.”
Poloche tried to help all members of the community, regardless of their background, he said.
“He said that’s because he sees these people are recently out of jail,” Aguilar said. “How can we, as a church, be more helpful to these people that are coming out and just don’t have anywhere to go?”
Emely Poloche, who is married to Sam Poloche’s cousin, called the fallen officer “a loving person, a great dad and a wonderful husband.”
She said he was a Christian man who always tried to do his best. “He was a very special person, dedicated to his family and his job.”
Poloche leaves behind a wife and two children.
You can find more coverage on the services for Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, N.C. Adult Corrections Officer Alden Elliott and CMPD Officer Josh Eyer by clicking the links provided.