Officers to Run in Miami Marathon in Honor of Slain Miami-Dade Detective – NBC 6 South Florida

Detective Cesar “Echy” Echaverry was an avid runner.

He posted a video on social media of himself running on the morning of Aug. 15.

“Breaking in the new shoes,” the post said.

It was likely the last run the 29-year-old Miami-Dade Police officer would ever take. He was shot that same night during an operation to take down an armed robbery suspect.

Echy died at the hospital two days later.

He was a five-year veteran with the Miami-Dade Police Department and was part of the Robbery Intervention Detail.

“It’s really tough,” said RID Detective Justin Heller. “It’s really hard to articulate how I felt that night.”

Heller is also part of RID and was on duty with Echy that night, along with RID detective Joe Rodriguez.

“It’s very traumatic, to be honest with you,” Heller said. “You sign up for this job thinking that that will never happen, but in the back of your head you know it’s a dangerous job. And to witness someone that paid the ultimate sacrifice, it’s tough.”

“It’s something we think about often,” Rodriguez said. “We think about it often. We never forget that night. And I will forever honor his name.”

And they’ve found the perfect way to do just that.

“After the incident, we became aware of the Miami Marathon and we decided what better way to honor his legacy than to sign up for the Miami Marathon and do something that we don’t really like doing but he did,” Heller said.

Two other RID officers, Detectives John Childress and Sean McVay, are also running. They all signed up to run the half-marathon. That’s 13.1 miles.

While they say they weren’t regular runners before this, they’ve been training. They’re aiming for an eight minute and 30 second pace.

Because they don’t want to just finish the race. They want Echy to be proud.

“I hope Cesar is looking down and saying, ‘hey man, that’s a respectable time,’” Heller said.

The marathon is this Sunday morning and starts at the arena in Downtown Miami.