This article was originally published in The Examiner on Nov. 23, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Kasey Sloan grew up in an unusual family — her dad, mom and stepdad were all police officers and all of them served on Beaumont’s SWAT team.
“They were an odd divorced couple, they all got along great,” she said, laughing. “They didn’t have a choice but to get along.”
Her father, Lieutenant Ky Lynn Brown, 55, of Kountze, died Saturday, Nov. 18, at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont. Brown was diagnosed on Aug. 18 with stage four stomach cancer, Sloan said.
Her father’s death was sudden, she said.
“From diagnosis to the day that he died was 90 days,” Sloan said.
Brown was the SWAT team commander, in addition to being a 32-year veteran of the Beaumont Police Department, Officer Haley Morrow said. Sloan added that he also worked narcotics cases.
“His home, where he considered he belonged, was in the narcotics and street crimes unit,” she said. “Probably if he had to pick one place out of the department, it would be
SWAT. He did SWAT for probably 29 years because he tried out right before I was born.”
Growing up, Sloan said she remembers being woken up in the middle of the night and taken to someone else’s house because her parents had to go on a SWAT call.
“That was normal for me, it didn’t bother me,” she said.
She said she took first dates to the SWAT training field.
“I learned how to shoot out there,” she said. “It wasn’t as exciting [to me] as it was to normal people just because that’s where I grew up at. It was another family for me.”
Brown considered his occupation a calling, Sloan said.
“This was more than just a job for him, this was a career, this was a lifestyle, this was
what he loved to do,” she said. “This is what he felt he was called to do, and so he was going to do it the best he could.”
Sloan said that her stepdad told her that Brown was his mentor in SWAT for 25 years while they cleaned out her dad’s desk together recently.
“He was always helping people,” she said. “Doesn’t matter if he was off duty, if he was on duty, if we were on vacation, if there was something that needed help — he was helping people. He felt like that was just the role that he was given, and he was going to do it to the best of his ability.”
She said she remembers him as humble and dedicated to his family.
“He was very involved in his family life and he didn’t let his profession take away from
it,” she said, adding that he was close to her daughter — his granddaughter.
Sloan described her dad as a Beaumont native and South Park High School graduate.
“He was born and raised here, graduated a very proud South Park Greenie, still has his letterman in the closet,” she said. “I don’t know how he kept up with that.”
Brown leaves behind his daughter Kasey and her stepsister Taylor, 23, and 14-year-
old brother Cole.
“It’s hitting [Cole] and my grandparents the hardest because parents shouldn’t have to bury a child, under any circumstances,” she said.
A gathering of Lieutenant Brown’s family and friends was held Tuesday, Nov. 21, at Broussard’s, located at 1605 North Major Drive in Beaumont.
His funeral service was scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 22, at Julie Rogers Theatre, located at 765 Pearl Street in Beaumont, with his interment following at Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont.
Eleanor Skelton 