Working Together to Honor Officer Sahota
In May, the family of Officer Donald Sahota – a former Port of Portland police officer – flew out of PDX to Washington, D.C. to attend the annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service. Officer Sahota was honored at the service after being tragically killed in the line of duty while working for the Vancouver Police.
Brian Burk (he/him) with the Port of Portland, Captain TJ Eriksen (he/him) with the Port of Portland Police Department, Jeff Ley (he/him) with TSA and Nathan Hepp (he/him) with Alaska Airlines provided amazing support for the Sahota family as they traveled through PDX.
Captain Eriksen led coordination efforts between the Port of Portland, Port Police and partners at PDX to ensure the family had a smooth journey to their gate. Nathan Hepp arranged a dedicated counter for the Vancouver police officers who were traveling with the family and needed to check their firearms. Jeff Ley coordinated a special TSA lane to screen Officer Sahota’s family. And, while the entire PDX operations team provided lots of support behind the scenes, Brian Burk deserves a special shout out for updating digital signage along Airport Way to read "PDX Honors Officer Donald Sahota," which meant so much to the family to see as they arrived for their flight.
This team’s work behind the scenes is the embodiment of being respectful, and demonstrates tremendous support for the Sahota family, for Officer Sahota and for the Port Police.
