Retiring police officer surprised by son during ‘last call' to dispatch

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. — We’ve seen the last call made by retiring police officers. They normally make a speech about how it was an honor to patrol the streets of their city.

But this time, it wasn’t the retiring officer who was bringing the tears. It was the man’s son.

Duane Ledoux retired last month after more than 31 years on the Southbridge, Massachusetts, police force, ABC News reported.

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Ledoux did his Code 5 as his final call-in before hanging up his badge.

A Code 5 is when an officer tells dispatch that he is done on a call, CBS News reported.

He was originally met on the other end of the two-way radio by the chief of police, who then switched places with Ledoux’s son Nathan.

“It is my honor to honor this Code 5 to set free a man who has sacrificed so much of his time for all of us,” the younger Ledoux said during his part of the call. “Dad, you are officially Code 5.”

Nate doesn’t live in Massachusetts, but flew across the country from Seattle to be there as his dad signed off for the final time.

The elder Ledoux didn’t realize it was his youngest son until Nathan, 28, said two things.

"I realized when Nathan said, 'chasing glory' and then, 'Dad,' it gave it away more or less," Ledoux told CBS News. "I had a feeling, but I didn't expect him, and what he said, and how well he said it, which was just phenomenal, and I can't get it out of my head now."

There is more to their story than just a retirement.

"I had two sons, and 15 years ago, I lost one of them in a car accident along with his mother and grandmother, and he's a gift. So it made the emotions that much more -- just to have him here at that moment," Ledoux told CBS News.

“When I pulled in the yard, I don’t think I could get out of the car, couldn’t get out of the cruiser fast enough just to see him and grab him and hold him and know that everything’s alright. It was a lot but it was good, it was real good,” Ledoux said.

Duane Ledoux says he has no set plans for retirement, ABC News reported.

But the one thing that his son said on the radio may help him figure out what to do with his now-free time.

"I think chasing glory in the end is Nathan. I think I"m going to end up chasing Nathan around the country. When he said chasing glory, I thought, I think that means him," Ledoux told CBS News.

 

Cox Media Group