Today was supposed by an anniversary to celebrate. Instead, its an anniversary of a tragedy. A year ago Gainesville Police Lieutenant Corey Dahlem was involved in an accident that would eventually claim his life.

Dahlem was working crowd control downtown after the Gator men's basketball team won its second straight national championship, when he was hit by a drunk driver. Gainesville's police chief says his department is ready to honor the fallen officer with a unique tribute.

Gainesville Police Chief Norman Botsford describes Lieutenant Corey Dahlem as a supervisor who would help any employee who needed it, so it was especially difficult for his co-workers to see Dahlem laying helpless on a stretcher after being hit by a drunk driver one year ago today. Since then, the department has honored Dahlem many times, and has grown closer to Dahlem's family as they've grieved together.

"We have kept close contact with every member of his family and they're part of our family forever, and it causes all of us to reflect on our memories of what a great employee he was," Chief Botsford said.

But Dahlem was more than a great employee, Botsford describes him as a great friend, mentor, father, and husband. With all that responsibility, you might think that he had his hands full, but Botsford says DAhlem was always looking for ways to make the police department a better place for his co-workers and for better ways to serve the community.

So it seems only fitting that he is now being honored at both state and national memorials later this month, and by his own department tomorrow. "Tomorrow, Friday, we're dedicating a room at the police department to Corey that his family will be at," Chief Botsford said. "The Data Track room, which Corey was largely responsible for planning and putting in." So now his name will forever be linked to the agency that Dahlem so faithfully served.