Service will honor slain deputy

Officials predict hundreds of police from the Northwest and Canada will attend a Spokane memorial service Wednesday for a Walla Walla County sheriff’s deputy.

A portion of Spokane Falls Boulevard will be closed for 5 ½ hours, in part for a formal police motorcade.

Michael O. Estes, who was raised in Sprague, Wash., and graduated from high school in the Spokane Valley, suffered head injuries when his patrol car hit a truck on Feb. 6. He died eight days later.

He was 43.

More than 1,200 people are expected at his memorial service, including 200 members of Estes’ extended family, said Cpl. Tom Lee, Spokane police spokesman.

Estes joined the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in 2005. He was also a member of the Oregon National Guard at the time of his death.

He graduated from Valley Christian School in 1982 and attended a Bible institute in Canada before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He served in the military for 12 years as a helicopter mechanic, traveling all over the United States, Germany and Egypt.

Estes later drove a tractor-trailer and worked as a corrections officer at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary before joining the sheriff’s department.

His memorial service is being organized by law enforcement honor guards from the Spokane and Seattle police departments, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol.

The service will begin at 8:45 a.m. at the INB Performing Arts Center, with a police escort for Estes’ casket. A public viewing will begin at 9 a.m., followed by the service at 11 a.m.

A police motorcade will escort Estes’ casket to a graveside service at Spokane Memorial Gardens on Cheney-Spokane Road. The procession will be met by a mounted patrol unit.

Estes is survived by his parents, Orville and Judi Estes, of Spokane; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Janice and Chad Simons, of Edwall, Wash., and Julie and Michael Murphy, of Sprague; and six nieces and nephews, according to his obituary.