ODESSA, Texas —
Barn A of the Ector County Coliseum was filled with the smell of burgers and the chatter of supporters Thursday. It was because of a fundraiser being thrown by the Professional Police Officer's Association (PPOA) of Odessa.
“So, this is for Trooper Kevin Ramirez Vasquez, who unfortunately lost his life a few weeks ago in West Odessa. He got hit, he was involved in a crash and unfortunately lost his life," said Bailey Thurman, vice president of the PPOA of Odessa. "So now we're here to raise money for the family to help out with whatever we can help out with.”
Thurman said cases like this are why people need to be mindful of first responders whenever they’re driving on the road.
“The biggest take away of this one is for the public just to remember, to move over from the side of the road," Thurman said. "You see a trooper, if you see police officers or anything on the side of the road, move over to the next lane, slow down for us to help us out in the long run of it all.”
It wasn’t just law enforcement that showed up to show their support.
“It means the world to me. There's police officers, there's firefighters, we're all working together. This is all volunteer work," Thurman said. "We're not getting paid to do this. This is all just out of the kindness of our hearts because we care for our people in blue. We care for everyone. And that and that's the biggest means of it all. As long as we can back the blue and do what we got to do, that's what we need to do.”
Thurman said the fundraiser raised around $7,000 for Trooper Ramirez Vazquez's family.