Enterprise

Sister: Fallen Beaumont officer was more than her profession



Sarah Shelton planned to present her sister and brother-in-law with final footage of the couple’s wedding on their upcoming one-year anniversary. Now Shelton, who was the videographer for the event, does not know if she can bring herself to finish the project.

Her younger sister, Sheena Yarbrough-Powell, was one of two Beaumont officers involved in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver Sunday morning. The 23-year-old from Lumberton, who had been married just 10 months, did not survive the crash.


On Sunday Beaumont Police Chief James Singletary said the other officer, later identified as 28-year-old Gabriel Fells, of Beaumont, was in stable condition with serious injuries.

Fells was driving the patrol car with Yarbrough-Powell in the passenger seat when they were struck by a 2006 Ford car without headlights driving the wrong way down U.S. 69 near MLK Boulevard at about 2:30 a.m., BPD said.



The driver of the Ford was later identified by the Department of Public Safety as Luis Torres, 18, of Port Arthur.

Investigators believe he was under the influence of alcohol, the department said in a news release, and are awaiting blood results.


First responders pronounced Yarbrough-Powell dead at the scene. Singletary said funeral arrangements had not been finalized as of Monday afternoon.

She was set to celebrate two years on the force in January.

Shelton said her sister was the second youngest of six girls.

“We did a lot together growing up,” Shelton said. “We went to church a lot and did a lot of church activities like going to camp. We even had like a dance group thing we did as children. The dances were so corny. It was really lame. We would have costumes made up. It was me, her and other little girls from the church. I think we were called the Angelic Dancers.”


Shelton described it as Napoleon Dynamite-styled interpretive dancing.

“We grew playing with Barbies,” she said. “I don’t know why we didn’t have boy ones, but if we wanted them to have boyfriends, we would just cut off the hair of the ones we thought were the ugliest and make them the boyfriends.”

Along with making the video for her sister’s wedding, Shelton also shot the bridal photos.

“I hated taking her picture,” she said. “She blinked every time I would snap the camera. She really supported me whenever I was becoming a photographer and videographer. She helped me with my first two or three weddings. She was my first assistant. Even when I was going through film school, I would make her help. She would always be in my stupid little student films.”


While Yarbrough-Powell’s as a police officer, Shelton said there was more to her sister.

“I see everyone posting ‘backing the badge,” and the cop stuff,” she said. “That wasn’t here whole identity. I don’t know why I feel that way towards it, but it puts her in this group. She was more than her job.”

Yarbrough-Powell was the only officer in the family. Shelton said that her sister never gave a clear reason as to why she chose law enforcement, but it went along with her desire to help others.

“It’s one of those things that our parents told us,” Shelton said. “We should put others before ourselves and not think selfishly. Between that and going to church and hearing that, I think that had a large impact.”

Shelton said her sister was involved at Calvary Baptist Church, but had not been able to attend as much as she liked since she began working for BPD.

After filming her sister’s wedding, Shelton began to create a highlight reel of the event. She intended to give the compilation to her sister and brother-in-law as an anniversary present, along with all of the footage on a flash drive.

“Now I don’t know if I should,” she said. “Now I think I’ll just put all of the footage on a USB and give it to Tyler (Powell). That way he has all of the video for their wedding and he can choose to watch it if he wants to. It’s one thing to have photos. I love photos. But it’s different to have video and watch their movement and see their mannerisms and hearing their voices.”

Yarbrough-Powell was the 18th Beaumont officer to die while on duty. Prior to her was Bryan Hebert, who died in 2011 when he was hit by a driver while laying down a spike strip.

John Nero, the man who was driving the car that killed Hebert, plead no contest to capital murder in 2013. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.



READ SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.