Slain officer’s funeral limited to 200 people

HOT SPRINGS — The funeral for Hot Springs police officer Brent Scrimshire, who was killed in the line of duty Tuesday evening, is set for today at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs but will be limited to 200 people because of coronavirus concerns.

To accommodate people unable to attend today’s funeral, officials have set up other ways for them to pay their respects.

Scrimshire’s body will “lie in state” from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a time during which people can enter the Hot Springs Convention Center at a designated entrance and pay respects to Scrimshire in Horner Hall.

A private service will follow at 2 p.m. with a limit of 200 people, including the officer’s family and Hot Springs police officers.

The funeral will be livestreamed on the city’s You Tube channel at www.you tube.com/cityofhotsprings.

The procession and interment will follow the service and private family viewing. The procession will extend from the Hot Springs Convention Center to Oakridge Cemetery in Malvern.

“This schedule is subject to change based on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and response,” Cpl. Joey Williams, the Police Department’s public information officer, said in a post on the department’s Facebook page Friday evening. “The Hot Springs Police Department continues to work closely with the Scrimshire family, City Hall and other officials to follow recommendations from the governor’s office and the Arkansas Department of Health.”

“We are inviting the public to line the route to honor and show support for Officer Brent Scrimshire and his family,” Williams said.

Scrimshire’s body will leave Regency Funeral Home in Malvern at 10 a.m. and proceed to the convention center on U.S. 270.

A U.S. Honor Flag will be taken to Hot Springs for the service.

A U.S. Honor Flag is an American flag that has traveled millions of miles since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. It has traveled to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, traveled aboard the last space shuttle launch in 2011 and has honored thousands of Americans in law enforcement, fire, emergency services, and members of the U.S. armed forces.

The eastbound lanes of Convention Boulevard in Hot Springs will be closed beginning at 7 a.m. Monday for police vehicles in the funeral procession. The westbound lanes of Convention Boulevard from Laurel Street to Malvern Avenue will be closed from 2:30 p.m. until the funeral is over. By 4 p.m., all lanes should be open.

Scrimshire, 33, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in the 100 block of Kenwood Street around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Kayvon Moshawn Ward, 21, and Coriama Hernandez, 20, were charged Thursday with capital murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Hernandez was in custody on an Arkansas State police hold when she was served with the warrant, and Ward, who had been hospitalized for treatment of injuries he received during the gunfire exchange, was released from the hospital late Thursday and booked into the lockup shortly before 10 p.m.

Garland County Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence indicated Thursday she plans to seek the death penalty against Ward and Hernandez.

A private service will follow at 2 p.m. with a limit of 200 people, including the officer’s family and Hot Springs police officers.