Orlando Police lieutenant’s death still fresh for survivors
A grin creeps across Seth Clayton’s face when he talks about the “love of his life,” Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton.
The first time he saw her, she was doing The Wobble dance with a big smile. They loved going on cruises — and even got married on one. She never turned down a chance to eat a piece of his mother’s pound cake.
But he becomes choked up when thinking about the times that they can’t have: the birthdays, the anniversaries. It’s why, even a year later, he won’t accept her death. He will never accept it.
“Because I loved her,” he said as the community prepares to honor his wife one year after she was gunned down in a parking lot. “We never got a chance to do everything we wanted. We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together.”
Seth Clayton’s life changed forever Jan. 9, 2017.
That’s the day his wife was picking up groceries at Wal-Mart on Princeton Street while on duty in her uniform, when a woman
came up to her and said Markeith Loyd, who was wanted in the killing of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, was inside the store.
Clayton, 42, confronted him, and he pulled out a gun and shot her, police said. He is accused of walking up and shooting her several more times in what authorities have called an executionstyle killing.
A kiss goodbye
The night before, Clayton and her husband celebrated their first wedding anniversary. As she left for work the next morning, she leaned over and kissed him, and they said “I love you” to each other.
She went to a “Coffee with Cops” event, which is designed to bridge the gap between the police and the community — something she dedicated her career to doing. After that, she stopped at Wal-Mart.
Seth Clayton was at work at the Public Works Department in Lake Mary when he learned about the shooting and rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center. He was taken to a room, where he was met by Orlando Police Chief John Mina.
“I said: ‘Why aren’t you taking me to the hospital room? Where’s Debra?’ ” he recalled. “That’s when he told me. And my heart just dropped. I was numb. I couldn’t move. I was just in shock.”
He was escorted to the back of the hospital, where Debra Clayton’s flag-draped casket was taken out as dozens of her fellow officers saluted.
“It was like a bad dream,” he said.
Clayton said that numb feeling returns now and then, but he relishes the time they had together. They met in 2010 at a mutual friend’s 50th birthday party at a bar on International Drive. He spotted her on the dance floor.
“All I saw was her smile,” Clayton said.
They began talking and hit it off.
“It was just exhilarating,” he said. “It felt like I knew her a long time. It was like I was knowing her forever.”
After their first date, they sat in the car for three hours and just talked. By the end of the night, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
‘It’s been hell’
Nikkie Anita Huey remembers the first time she met her half-sister. Huey, who was about 9, was getting candy at church when some girls started to bully her. That’s when Debra, who was a couple years older, came in and said, “Don’t mess with my sister.”
Huey had no idea who she was. Clayton spent most of her childhood with her father and had never met Huey until that moment.
It was the start of a lifelong bond. They became closer in high school, and one day they were talking about careers. Clayton said she wanted to become a police officer.
“She said, ‘I know I can’t make a big change, but maybe if I can make a small change, I can make a big difference,’ ” Huey recalled. “It connected with me. What she said lined up with her heart.”
Clayton followed through and made a strong impact in nearly two decades on the force. She spent countless hours volunteering with kids in the “dragon boat” program and at community forums calling for an end to violence. Clayton also started a nonprofit for young women and girls who were victims of violence.
“She really knew the importance of connecting with the community,” Mina said. “She really used those programs to help humanize law enforcement. She’s a role model for officers.”
On Tuesday, there will be a “Legacy Walk” from 4-6 p.m. at Dr. I. Sylvester Hankins Neighborhood Center in Orlando. There will also be a Back the Blue 5K at 9 a.m. Saturday at Rosemont Community Center.
Family was the most important thing to Clayton, her sister and husband said. She worked hard to provide a better life for her son, Johnny Brinson, now 25.
Clayton relished her nieces and nephews. During the last conversation she had with Huey’s 5-year-old daughter, she asked the girl to sing her a song.
“My daughter loved her auntie,” Huey said.
Huey and her family spent Clayton’s last Christmas together. Huey chuckled when she recalled her husband giving Clayton a hard time for not making the banana pudding from scratch.
“It’s things like that that I’ll never forget,” Huey said. “That’s when reality sets in that she’s gone.”
Seth Clayton tries to keep his mind occupied, but birthdays and holidays are especially hard. Their birthdays were six days apart in August, and they usually went on a trip. He said he appreciates the outpouring of support from the community.
“It’s been bittersweet. It’s been hell sometimes,” he said. “At the beginning it was really, really hard. As time went on, it’s still hard, [but] it’s made me stronger as a person.”
Loyd, who was arrested after a nine-day manhunt, remains in the Orange County Jail awaiting trial.
“She [Lt. Debra Clayton] really knew the importance of connecting with the community ... She’s a role model for officers.” Orlando Police Chief John Mina