In this Monday, May 14, 2018, photo from a video provided by Samantha Phegley, police officers from multiple counties line up outside Sullivan Elementary School in Sullivan, Ind., to welcome Dakota Pitts back to school. His father, Terre Haute police Officer Rob Pitts, was killed in the line of duty on May 4. (Samantha Phegley via AP)
May 16, 2018 - 7:10 AM
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - About 70 law enforcement officers welcomed the five-year-old son of a slain police officer to a western Indiana school as he returned to class for the first time since his father was killed in a shootout.
Dakota Pitts asked his mother if one of his father's friends could drive him for his first day back.
WTHI-TV reports Dakota got that special ride and when he arrived Monday morning at Sullivan Elementary School he was greeted by about 70 Terre Haute police officers and Vigo County Sheriff's deputies lining the school's entrance.
He was presented with a SWAT team shirt and badge during his arrival.
Dakota's dad, Terre Haute police Officer Rob Pitts, was killed May 4.
Kelli Jones, Rob Pitts' sister, says Dakota knows "his dad was a hero."
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Information from: WTHI-TV, http://www.wthitv.com/
News from © The Associated Press, 2018