Danny McWilliams flew all the way in from Texas to deliver a Christmas gift to the wife and family of a fallen Taylor, Mich. police officer.

Working with the Thin Blue Line Dog Project, McWilliams started rescuing dogs and training them as support animals for the families of fallen officers.

McWilliams, a Baytown, Texas police officer, founded the dog project after a friend and his partner were killed in the line of duty in LaPlace in 2012.

The first dog to complete the training is Preston, a Labrador Retriever that was recently given to Shannon Edwards and her children, Luke and Moriah.

They are the surviving family of Matt Edwards, the first Taylor officer killed in the line of duty. Edwards was killed at about 6 a.m. July 23, 2010, after he was hit by six gunshots.

The crime occurred at Coppertree Apartments, off North Line Road east of Telegraph Road, as Edwards and his partner, Cpl. Gregory Piche, were investigating a breaking-and-entering report.

Tyress Mathews of Westland was convicted in the officer’s death.

When Deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen were ambushed and killed in the line of duty in LaPlace, McWilliams got involved with helping their families. He knew Triche as they had trained police dogs together.

http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/texas-officer-donates-therapy-dog-to-family-of-fallen-taylor/article_36967030-1527-5b05-926d-ccf044a258dd.html