Macon deputy’s funeral filled with love, pain, remembrance. ‘We will never forget.’

A Macon-Bibb County Sheriff’s deputy put his arm around another as they walked into Macon City Auditorium Tuesday afternoon.

Two other deputies locked arms as they walked towards the casket of Deputy Christopher Wilson Knight.

His family followed, and over the sound of the bagpipes’ melody, his mother’s cries rang through the Auditorium.

“Oh God… My baby,” she cried as she looked at her son’s body.

Knight was stabbed while he and other deputies were moving inmate Albert Dewitt Booze to a “suicide watch” cell in the early morning hours of April 6.

His funeral was held Tuesday at the auditorium where more than 150 people gathered to mourn his death. He is survived by his mother, Cheryl Knight, and his 2-year-old daughter.

Gov. Brian Kemp and local elected officials attended the funeral Tuesday, and Mayor Lester Miller and Sheriff David Davis spoke.

Knight, who had recently turned 30, was hired at Bibb County Sheriff’s Office in July 2018, and he worked in the jail for the entirety of his time there.

Over the past three years, Davis said Knight became a valuable resource for the sheriff’s office and worked to create a community in the jail between the inmates and the deputies. Knight was the “go to guy” for his squad and for other members of the department, Davis said.

“We will never forget his commitment to the sheriff’s office, and his contributions to the mission of law enforcement,” Davis said to Knight’s family. “You will always be a part of our family.”

Mayor Lester Miller said he met Knight a few weeks prior to his death, and Knight congratulated him on his election victory.

“I thanked him for his service, and his dedication to the sheriff’s office, and when I looked in his eyes, I could tell that he loved, he enjoyed doing what he did,” Miller said. “As I paid for my items and began to walk away, I heard his voice again, and he said, ‘Mayor, do not worry. We have your back.’”

Miller said the Macon community honors law enforcement and Knight for their work.

“At this moment, the reality of their work is made very plain to us, for any number of reasons their life can be taken,” he said. “We’re all in great debt to each of those and their commitment and their dedication to place their lives on the line.”

The Union Baptist Church Praise Team led the audience in a couple of hymns, and David Stanley, senior pastor of Union Baptist Church, presented the eulogy.

Stanley said he went to the hospital the night of Knight’s death, and he compared the sight of Knight’s mother sitting by his hospital bed and holding his hand to Mary at the foot of the cross.

“Just like Mary had her closure with Christ, you had yours with Chris, and may those last moments, though they were difficult, a bloodstained bed, may it be with you for the rest of your life and may you cherish it and hold onto it because it’ll sustain you in the days to come,” he said. “Close the book on the life of Deputy Christopher Wilson Knight. The last chapter has been read… God has spoken, but it was a good book, even though it was not as long, it was a good book.”