LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Thousands of people from the Bluegrass and beyond honored Louisville Metro Police Detective Deidre Mengedoht on Monday. Her funeral was held on New Year’s Eve at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. On Monday, Governor Matt Bevin called for Kentuckians to honor her by lowering their flags to half-staff.

People paid their respects to the late detective not only at her funeral service, but as a procession of police cars arrived and left the church. Mengedoht was killed on Christmas Eve, when a tanker driver crashed into the back of her police car. There were touching tributes and words of encouragement shared, one week later, at her funeral.

“If I could encourage you today, I would encourage you with what [Deidre] would say to you from her perspective. Her perspective is with Jesus, in a room, in the Father's mansion. And she would say 'don't worry about me. You focus on what I'd focused on.' She'd put her hope in Jesus, and she loved her family, both biological, and in the LMPD. She loved you,” Pastor Greg Allen said.

Her best friend Janelle Briscoe also offered remarks, sharing that she was proud of Mengedoht, and that she, “never got to tell her that I was watching from afar."

There’s a fundraiser for Mengedoht’s family started by LMPD on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/LMPD.ky/. She leaves behind a young son.