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SALT LAKE CITY — Two widows of police officers still healing after the loss of their husbands showed support for the wife of an officer that died Sunday.
Nanette Wride and Shante Johnson said when they heard about the shooting that killed Unified police officer Doug Barney, they couldn't help but relive what had happened to their own husbands. Their next thought was to be by the side of officer Barney's wife.
"Our first instinct is just to run to her and let her know you're not alone, even though this really hurts," Johnson said.
She and Wride said they know the pain.
"Once again, I'm not sleeping, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about what she's going to be feeling through it. I would do anything to avoid anyone going through what we've gone through," Wride said.
Both women lost their husbands in the line of duty. Johnson's husband, Draper police officer Derek Johnson, was shot to death in 2013. Wride's husband, Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride, was killed during a gunfight in 2014.
These widows say they are reliving the tragedy with Sunday's shooting.
"Oh, it's a whole rollback. It's a throwback just to the day that our husbands died and it's just been on a constant loop since," Johnson said.
Despite the pain, the two powered through and spent the day with officer Barney's wife, Erika.
"You can tell she's terrified," Wride said. "And just thinking back on how I felt, and I know Shante felt just numb. You know, she probably doesn't even realize that she needs to eat and she needs to sleep."
The advice comes from first-hand experience. The two women say Barney's wife is on a long road of healing, one they continue to travel, themselves.
"Everything that was normal to her existence, it doesn't exist anymore and she will have to rebuild from the ground up," Johnson said.
Last year, Johnson and Wride fought to pass a bill, HB288, that would expand benefits to the families of law enforcement officers, firefighters and correctional officers killed in the line of duty. They were successful in their fight and said they are glad it will help the Barney family.
"Since she's the first one since the bill passed, for it to go through it wasn't made retroactive, so we didn't, I didn't (benefit from it), but we're so happy that she is able to get that," Johnson said.
Wride and Johnson also spent time with Hannah Richey, wife of the other officer wounded in Sunday's incident. They said she, too, is struggling but is thankful for the community's support.
