Detective killed in crash remembered as true professional, humble
In law enforcement circles, Metro Police Detective Justin Terry was known as a consummate professional, an expert in the field of sex crimes.
In his personal life, Terry was known as a kind, compassionate and humble man who would drop what he was doing at a moment’s notice to help somebody out. That included offering a shoulder to cry on and — on mostly any occasion, good or bad — giving a hug you’d likely never forget, his family members said.
“Justin’s hugs were magic,” Terry’s sister, Lisa, said Tuesday at his funeral.
Terry was killed June 10 after a truck hit a bridge warning beam on U.S. 95 near Centennial Parkway, causing the beam to fall on his unmarked patrol vehicle.
Hundreds of police officers, firefighters, medics and other mourners attended the 10 a.m. service at Central Christian Church in Henderson.
Terry, 45, is survived by his wife, Stacey, and sons Sean and Jacob; his parents, Harold and Joyce; sister, Lisa, and brother, Joshua; and several nieces and nephews.
“Detective Justin Terry was one of the best,” Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. “He made this department and he made our community better.”
“This profession is like no other, and it can take a toll when officers see and hear things no one should have to experience,” Lombardo said. “But Justin never let it change him. From the moment he entered this force 21 years ago until the day he said goodbye, he was the same man.”
A police motorcade escorted Terry’s flag-draped casket carried atop a Metro pickup truck from Palm Downtown Mor
tuary in Las Vegas to the church. The procession snaked through downtown Las Vegas and down the Las Vegas Strip. Along the way, Henderson firefighters and police officers stood atop parked emergency vehicles and saluted.
A Metro honor guard escorted Terry’s casket inside the church, while three police helicopters flew overhead.
Officer Nick Madsen, who went through Metro’s police academy with Terry and worked with him through the years, said Terry stood out from the moment they met.
After graduating from the academy in 2001, the two were assigned to the graveyard shift and learned the ropes together, Madsen said.
Some of the rookies were “very impressed by our own greatness,” Madsen said, but Terry “never got too high and he never got too low.”
“He was humble, which would not surprise anyone here, and he just did his job and did it very, very well,” Madsen said.
Terry’s son Sean said he saw a news story about his father’s death in which someone said Terry was the nicest officer who ever arrested him.
“As crazy as that sounds, you and I all know that it’s probably true,” he said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd of mourners.
The one thing his dad hated, Sean Terry said, was being the center of attention, which means he probably wouldn’t be too comfortable with Tuesday’s service.
“In my opinion, he deserves all the attention in the world,” his son Jacob Terry said. “He was the most selfless, humble and caring human being.”