'One of the good ones': Friends remember fallen Arvada police officer Dillon Vakoff
Fallen Arvada Police Officer Dillon Vakoff is being remembered by his community and his law enforcement family but also by the brothers and sisters who served alongside him in the military.
"It was in his blood to serve whether it was the people around him his community or his country," Patty Timmins said.
Timmins served with Vakoff in the Air Force for three years, including one deployment overseas.
"I considered him like my older brother," she said.
Spending holidays away from their families, she remembers his attempt to cheer her up and posted a video of that day online.
"I had a 1-year-old daughter at home, and I was missing her first Christmas," she said.
Vakoff quickly took her under his wing she said he would walk with her to the gym at night to make sure she made it safely and when she was unsure about her future, he motivated her to go back to school.
"He showed me how to register for an online school, how to get the military to pay for it. Within a week I was enrolled in classes, and we were taking classes alongside each other at work," Timmins said Vakoff was earning his master's degree at that time.
Years later she says he was still offering his support, "A few years later, my husband passed away while we were serving, he (Vakoff) made sure to constantly check up on me and my daughter to make sure we were doing ok."
After learning of his death, she says her thoughts went immediately to his family who she never met but says she heard many stories about.
And to the community who didn't have a chance to know him, she had one message, "Dillon Vakoff was one of the good ones, he was one of the ones you knew was going to make a difference in this world."
Arvada police shared that the only donation site for Vakoff to make tax-deductible donations is: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTU5Njg1
