Click photo to enlarge
From left, Sabrina, Aaron and Arriana Williams attend the Oakland Police Department's annual memorial service today for officers killed in the line of duty. The Williams family attend in honor of their late father and husband, James Williams Jr., who was killed January 10, 1999. (Alison Yin/Oakland Tribune)
VIDEO

OAKLAND — Lisa Soto was just 4 years old when her father, Oakland police Officer Miguel T. Soto, was fatally shot during a car stop in June 1994 by a man wanted for robbery.

She vaguely remembers his funeral and says it was difficult at times growing up without him — even with the love and support of her mother, siblings, grandparents and other relatives.

But Soto says she always feels his presence, especially on Tuesday when she sang a moving version of recording artist Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up'' before an audience of more than 250 attending the Oakland Police Department's 12th annual memorial service for 47 officers killed in the line of duty since 1867.

More than a few hardened officers and others in the audience, which included relatives and friends of the fallen officers as well as city officials, were brought to tears by the 18-year-old's performance.

Soto, who was asked to sing by the Oakland Police Officers Association, will graduate from high school next month. She has a scholarship to an Oregon university, where she will study theater and performing arts.

Her father liked to sing, and everyone who knew him said he would have been be very proud of her.

"I was really nervous,'' Soto said after the ceremony. "I kind of thought it would be an appropriate song.''

She said she has sung in groups before, but believes her dad would have approved of her solo rendition.

"I think he kind

Advertisement
of wanted me to do it on my own this time," she said.

The ceremony was held in the lobby of police headquarters, where the names of 47 fallen officers are engraved on a marble wall as a lasting tribute to them. The most recent officer to be killed was William Seuis, who died in July 2004.

In remarks to those in attendance, a solemn but proud police Chief Wayne Tucker said it is his hope "that there will come a day when no more names will be added to the wall, that there are no more deaths or serious injuries.

"But until that day," he added, "I know Oakland officers will continue to battle to bring peace to those in need.''

To relatives of the dead officers, Tucker said, "We cannot soothe your grief or repay your loved one's sacrifice,'' but their names will be in every officers' heart.

"For they stood fast in the company of evil and gave their lives in the oldest fight of all -- the fight for right over wrong, for peace over conflict, for the safety of their neighbors and their family and their friends,'' Tucker said.

Mayor Ron Dellums said he was grateful to be present to honor the officers, "who paid the ultimate price to make Oakland a better place. We are reminded here how extraordinarily dangerous this job can be.

"We should raise our voices in thanks for the men and women who stand and protect and serve and defend," Dellums added, "and thank them for their extraordinary sacrifice.''