~ Promoted from the Diaries. Thank you Westcoastpatriette for providing these informative open threads to the community. – Aaron Gardner

The local television stations broadcasted the funeral of Riverside Police Officer Michael Crain — one of the officers whose life was cut short by crazed ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner — in its entirety on Wednesday.

It was stunning. More than 8,000 people were in attendance, 4,000 of whom were uniformed police officers from around the state and some from out of state. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Governor Jerry Brown were also in attendance.

By the time Dorner was finally stopped, his rage had touched the five largest counties in Southern California — Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles — and turned the state into one large army of law enforcement officials determined to stop the carnage of one mad man.

The funeral was held at The Grove Community Church in Riverside and the eulogies were gut-wrenching. But I have never been more proud of Riverside’s Chief of Police Sergio Diaz. (Full disclosure: I live in Riverside and confess to a little bias in my views.)

Officer Michael Crain was a thirty-four year old eleven-year veteran of the police department as well as a Marine Corps vet. He was married with two children ages ten and four years old. Chief Diaz directed the bulk of his entire eulogy to Crain’s children who were sitting directly in front of him on a pew next to their mother. He comforted the children by telling them stories about their father who was well-regarded throughout the department. Then he reassured them that though they lost their father in the line of duty, the entire department of officers in Riverside would be at their side for the rest of their lives. Someone already posted it on Youtube:

After the end of the service, the thousands in attendance drove in the funeral procession to the Riverside National Cemetery where Michael Crain was laid to rest.

It was truly beautiful. Underlying the carefully planned ceremony was a bitter-sweet irony. While Dorner was a product of the more liberal county of Los Angeles and claimed that his deeds were in retaliation for mistreatment he received as an LAPD officer, the people he murdered, maimed and terrorized were all in the much more conservative surrounding counties.

It seems once again, the grown-ups are having to clean up after and suffer from the actions of the irresponsible left.

The Watercooler is an open thread.