Slain Miami-Dade detective’s coffin receives honorary escort from hospital

The flag-draped coffin of Cesar Echaverry, the Miami-Dade robbery detective who died from injuries in a shootout with an armed robbery suspect, left Jackson Memorial Hospital in a short but moving ceremony on Friday.

Accompanied by an Honor Guard, an escort of patrol cars and motorcycles, Echaverry’s body was taken shortly after 10 a.m. from the hospital across the street to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office. The street was lined with fellow officers, who saluted as his coffin passed, along with family and friends.

The five-year veteran and member of the county’s elite Robbery Intervention Detail will receive full honors at a ceremony to be scheduled in the near future. His name will be forever etched into the limestone wall at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Echaverry, 29, was shot in the head Monday night after a brief chase of a Georgia man suspected of robbing a Broward County convenience store. Fellow officers quickly rushed Echaverry to the hospital in an unmarked vehicle. He was kept alive for two days on a ventilator. His family agreed to remove the life support Wednesday night. Echaverry’s suspected shooter was killed in the shootout.

An avid biker, Echaverry attended Miami Dade College and Florida International University, where he studied criminal justice. He was born in Hialeah and attended John A. Ferguson Senior High School.

Echaverry is survived by his father, Cesar, mother, Sandra, sister, Sandra Virginia, and a fiancée.