Recognizing Officer Tony Breeden on His Retirement

Floor Speech

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Mr. NORMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the dedicated service of Police officer Tony Breeden who will officially retire this year.

Tony was born in Winchester, Virginia, where he and his family lived for 2 years. His family later moved to Charlotte, N.C. where he attended Myers Park High School graduating in 1988. Upon graduating from High School, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he served from 1988 to 1992.

After spending four years in the Marine Corps, he then joined the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Department where he worked for 2 years, until joining the Rock Hill Police Department in 1995 through 2022.

He rose through the ranks beginning with the traffic unit, sergeant of the street crimes unit, patrol Lieutenant of Charlie Shift, and member of the highly decorated SWAT team unit for 26 years serving from 1996 to 2022.

Officer Breeden found time to serve the greater Rock Hill community by coaching various sports for over 27 years at his church and in the city leagues, dating back to 1995.

Tony and his wife, Brooke, have 3 children Austin, Kolby, and Devin. Officer Breeden is the epitome of the American success story, where he has risen above many personal challenges, including having his father leave his family when Tony was 5 years of age. He and his brother and sister were left to be raised by a single mother.

The greatest tragedy the Breeden family has faced was the sudden loss of their son Kolby on March 14th, 2021. In the words of one of Kolby's closest friends, Julianne Young, ``Kolby was the epitome of good. He not only lit up every room he walked in but made everyone in that room a better person just by spending time with them.''

The Rock Hill Police Department and the greater Rock Hill community will lose a true public servant who epitomized the police officer motto of ``To Protect And To Serve''.

Lieutenant Tony Breeden has set the Gold Standard for 27 years of dedicated service and commitment which will long be remembered and for that we all join in saying Thank You.

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