CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers honored veterans, active military personnel and their families on Saturday night in recognition of Veterans Day. 

Karen Ritter is the mother of Cleveland police officer Jamieson Ritter. Her family is being honored for her son’s sacrifice.

“It’s an honor to have to be a part of what they’re doing to salute the folks that have tragically passed away but also honoring the veterans that have served the country,” she said.

Jamieson Ritter was in Syria in 2022 with the Ohio Army National Guard. He returned to Cleveland to continue his service with the Cleveland Police Department, but was killed in the line of duty on July 4.

The Cavs honored him on Saturday night in the salute to service ceremony. His dad, Jon Ritter, said he is grateful for the support.

“We can’t thank the Cavaliers enough for the amount of things that they’ve done for us and for all the veterans and all the community members, they’re doing a great job in making the community aware and recognizing everybody for it,” Jon Ritter said.

Aly Ambrookian is the senior director of integrated marketing and said this is their duty.

“I mean this is a really important community initiative to us not only because of the members here in Cleveland, Ohio but across the world and our team members as well, we have a lot of internal groups that have served or our active service members as well so we really want to do the best for our community,” she said.

The Cavs honored families in the tragedy assistance program for survivors. It’s a national organization that provides care and support for those grieving the loss of a military loved one.

The ceremony also paying tribute to fallen Cleveland and Euclid police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty this past year, including Euclid police officer Jacob Derbin.