T.Marc Colburn. Expert Witness

A man I worked with for many years passed away this week. I first met Marc when he transferred from Baltimore City PD to Anne Arundel County. He was assigned to "The Northern" shift three, and I was tasked with being his field training officer. The thought of having a "training officer" ruffled Marc's feathers to no end, I think the line at the time was "I have driven past more in progress felonies than you've made arrests for", but in government, nothing is right but the paperwork.
So off we went, dayshift in the hood. After a few hours of showing post boundaries and getting a lay of the land, we decided to have lunch. I stopped at the local Roy's ( 2@5th for you radio types).  We got about halfway through the meal, and caught a robbery call, so off we went. On the way to the call, lights and siren, wide open as we could go, T.Marc looks over at me and says "I've never paid for a meal, and I've never thrown one in the trash, and I just did both on my first day".
There is no end to the stories I could share. Marc was a cops cop. He talked trash to young guys to  try and motivate them ("Post Pride is not a fucking breakfast cereal"), but he walked the walk and lead by example. We spent many years working together, we investigated drug cases, did no telling how many search warrants together. We were hand picked to investigate violent crimes in The Western District as a two man team. Some of the best cases of my career came working along side Marc. And the tag "expert witness" came about when all his circuit court summonses gave him the distinction of an expert witness in  other people's drug cases. The title stuck with me.
T.Marc blew his knee out on a call when we stopped and arrested robbery suspects and an escaped prisoner all in the same car. Marc was medically retired, and where most cops long for retirement, it did not seem to suit him. The job kills cops, but it's not always a bullet, knife or car accident that kills us. Marc dealt with his issues as best he could, the only way he knew how. I hope he finds the peace he never seemed to know. This is how I remember my friend, and always will.

Spooning at a Gettysburg campground

Cooling off on a camping trip to Tennessee

T.Marc and his ex-wife Melanie

Fishing for monster trout, and caught a hail storm instead

Fishing off a lawyer friend's pier 2006ish

Fish with teeth, at his grandparents dock

Rest now brother. We have the watch
"Bubba"