Drowned Montgomery Police Officer Laid To Rest As Hero
Friends, family, and fellow officers together today to remember the life of Lietuenant Rian Rider, a Montgomery police officer who drowned at Orange Beach over the Fourth of July holiday.
Everyone who spoke reflected on Lieutenant Rider’s easy smile and love for children. They spoke of how he was a true hero.
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Rian Rider served with pride on the Montgomery Police force since 2002. Â
During his service, he served in several departments, and was even shot on duty.Â
But the act that will be remembered most is when he gave his life to save his niece from dangerous rip current in the Gulf of Mexico.
“When Rian saw his niece harley struggling in the surf, he did what heroes do. He went to her rescue. And in saving her life, he sacrificed his own. That’s how Rian lived,” said Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange.
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His pastors remember Rian having a big heart for victims, particularly children and mothers…. a compassion he showed all the time.Â
“He loved through the many seen and unseen ways that he made life better for children and women who had experienced violence and tragedy. He traded his life not only at the end but throughout for others and for the sake of family and friends and colleagues and the community,” said Nathan Attwood, Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Millbrook.Â
“He embodied the words of Jesus Christ, who said no one has greater love than this, than to lay down ones life for ones friends. In those fateful moments, Rian chose love,” said Jeremy Pridgeon, UMC Pensacola District Superintendent.
After the service, there was a private graveside service to lay him to rest.Â
The family is asking for any memorial gifts in Lieutenant Rider’s honor to be sent to the one place family justice center.
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