Detroit Police Sergeant Joe Abdella, who was on the force for 21 years, was loved by his department.
He was a well respected homicide investigator, who also took down some of Detroit's most feared criminals. Others quickly started calling Abdella "Capone" because of his tough demeanor and the nickname stayed with him.
“I don’t want to cry, but I miss him five, six, 10 times a day,” Sgt. Douglas Muston told Detroit's WXYZ. “He excelled at any kind of police work. But to say it all, Joe always gave 100 percent."
It was also hard to ignore Abdella's love for policing on horseback. He dedicated much time to the mounted unit and even let his family experience the horses with him.
So when Abdella unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack, the department wanted his memory to live on, much like the time a cop was remembered with a touching ceremony after being killed by a drunk driver in Colorado. In turn, they named the department's newest horse after him, a gesture that touched his family.
"It just meant the world to us," said Sally Abdella, Joe’s widow. "He loved the city, he loved the people, he loved what he did, he showed by example how to live life. And how to live with purpose, and with passion and with conviction. He just showed us how to do all those things and he was a rock for all of us."
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