Memorial service honors Colorado State Patrol trooper Cody Donahue

Family, friends and fellow officers gathered Friday to honor a Colorado State Patrol trooper who died tragically in the line of duty.

Cody Donahue's sister called Cody a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, friend, trooper and neighbor, just to name a few.

Cody was first and foremost a family man, his sister Erin Donahue-Paynter said.

"One family friend called him an 'an all-in dad,'" Donahue-Paynter said. "He loved every part of being a dad. He loved hugging on them and playing with them. He loved teaching them new things."

Cody left behind two young daughters -- Leila, 10, and Maya, 7, and his wife Velma.

Funeral & procession

A motorcade procession for Donahue started at approximately 9:45 a.m. Friday in Littleton. It traveled onto westbound C-470 from West Bowles Avenue and continued on westbound Colorado 470 until exiting onto northbound Colorado 285. Both highways were closed to honor Donahue.

Near Kipling, the vehicles making up the large procession detail entered Colorado 285. As the smaller group passed, the large procession detail fell in behind the main processional.

The large procession continued along Colorado 285, until it reached the Denver First Church of the Nazarene.

Honoring Trooper Donahue

Gov. John Hickenlooper ordered flags around the state be lowered in remembrance of Donahue.

Donahue's family issued a statement Thursday thanking the community for its support, and asking for people to stop driving carelessly.

First of all, we want to thank everyone who has sent love and prayers to our family, including our community, the Colorado State Patrol, and our friends and family around the world.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  There are no words to express how great our loss is.  Cody was the rock of our family.  He was always there to make us smile, lend a hand, give a hug.  Our hearts are forever broken.  We do want to take this opportunity to ask all who have been touched by this tragedy, please don’t drive carelessly.  If you see emergency personnel on the side of the road, please slow down and move over.  Two little girls are going to grow up without their Daddy and there’s just no good reason.  

The Donahue Family

A memorial page set up for Donahue by Ellis Family Services says the family is asking for contributions to the Flying Wheels Foundation be made in lieu of flowers.

The foundation’s address is 15055 South Golden Road, Golden, Colorado 80401.

A GoFundMe account was set up by the Colorado State Patrol to help raise money for the family.

Donahue died on Nov. 25 after a truck driver allegedly drifted onto the shoulder of I-25 south of Castle Rock where Donahue investigated another crash.

The man accused of killing Donahue, Noe Gamez-Ruiz, is being charged with failure to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle and careless driving resulting in death. He’s next due in court in January.