CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - In the last several days, we’ve told you about the devastation left behind from Officer Cassie Johnson’s death. But on Monday, WSAZ sat down with one of Officer Johnson’s best friend’s and colleagues’ about what putting on her uniform everyday meant to Johnson.
“I first met Cassie back in 2017 (and) I knew she had a dream about becoming a police officer,” said Lt. Autumn Davis with Charleston Police Department.
Davis said it wasn’t long after they met, Johnson became a humane officer for the Charleston Police Department.
“I made contact with her and I said, ‘Cassie, I know you want to be a police officer, would you want to work together to work on your physical ability and get you up to speed for when you take the physical ability test?’ ”
Though, Davis already knew the answer to that question, she didn’t know that would be the start of a mentorship.
“Cassie was driven, determined and if it wasn’t me she would’ve made it on her own,” Davis said. “As the time went on, I got to know Cassie, she got to know me, so we went from kind of a mentorship to a friendship.”
After nearly a year of training, Johnson took the test and passed.
“I was there when she took the police test, I got to see her pass that day and she was over the moon excited about that.”
Davis was also there when Johnson was sworn into the force in January 2019.
“If you go back and look at that footage if you weren’t there, you can just see the smile on Cassie’s face and the joy she experienced that day because, she had finally made it.”
Davis is remembering her friend with the memories and adventures they shared.
“I’ll miss the days that we went outside and enjoyed the weather, we would walk and talk. It may not be about police stuff (either,) it was a lot of times personal stuff. We went hiking one time, we got lost in the woods,” Davis told WSAZ.
Davis said one Christmas, Johnson gave her a bracelet that is engraved: “Not sisters by blood but sisters by heart,” which is one of the keepsakes she will continue to wear to remember and honor her fallen sister.
“Cassie was a beam of light in a dark room, she could light up the room with her smile,” she said. “She had that laugh, if you’re having a bad day you just want to laugh with her. Always positive, always upbeat, I don’t know how someone could be that happy all the time.”
Officer Johnson will be laid to rest with a hero’s funeral service on Tuesday.
Copyright 2020 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
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Colleague and friend remembers Fallen Charleston Police Officer Cassie Johnson - WSAZ
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