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Nevada Highway Patrol troopers solemnly marched alongside a pearl-colored hearse carrying Trooper Micah May’s American flag-draped casket. Flanked by two officers, his widow, Joanna, trailed behind. She stood strong.
A miles-long funeral procession of hundreds of police cars and motorcycles, fire trucks, ambulances and tow trucks made its way to Central Church in Henderson.
A riderless horse with black boots hanging from its saddle paced behind them. And a large U.S. flag hung from two outstretched fire engine ladders flapped in the hot desert breeze.
Hundreds of people showed up today to pay tribute to May, who died two days after he was hit by a stolen car during a chase on Interstate 15. May, 46, was putting down tire spikes at the time.
Before May responded to his last call on July 27, he had learned his family was out shopping and took a lunch break to meet and surprise them.
“He left, though, because he felt like he was needed by his fellow troopers,” said Col. Ann Carpenter, head of the Nevada Highway Patrol.
“That snapshot in a life that by all accounts was truly honorable speaks volumes of him. It shows that he was bound by both his family and his duty as an officer and he did right on both fronts,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter then called the law enforcement officers at the memorial to attention as she presented May’s widow with her husband’s last commendations: a Medal of Valor and a Purple Heart.
Paul May eulogized his brother, whom he grew up with in a small town in Massachusetts, as fearless and adventurous. May loved exploring the woods, where he would climb the highest trees, his brother said.
When they were children, their mother explained the concept of heaven to them, he said, fighting back tears.
“My takeaway was there were a lot of people up there kneeling down on clouds looking down on us,” he said. “I’d like to think that for the last week-and-a-half, he’s been up there poking his head out from the clouds and taking daredevil leaps between them, while mischievously bringing rain and rainbows to Las Vegas for the last week.”
Seth May, the siblings’ younger brother, said he was about 9 when Micah, then 17, took him for a ride in one of the family cars without permission.
“I was sure he could drive, after all he was so old,” Seth Meyer said sarcastically to laughs. On their way back home, though, they crashed into a ditch.
“Micah went from off-roading his parents’ car and getting a ticket before he could drive legally to making a career out of being behind the wheel and handing out those same sorts of citations,” Seth May said.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman told the fallen trooper’s family members they “were the anchor of his life.” She described him as “deeply caring, sensitive, loyal, loving, honorable and a model of exemplary humanity.”
May’s friend, retired patrol Sgt. Russ Marco, said May was the type of son who would try to call his parents every day and showed that same kind of respect to the people he interacted with on the job.
“He probably felt he would never want someone to treat his parents badly, so in return, he always made sure that other people’s parents were treated with care.”
After the memorial service, the procession took Micah May to his final resting place at Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue. He was the 12th trooper to die in the line of duty in the agency’s history.