LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One Sunday, seven months ago, Christina Parks' whole world came crashing down. Her husband, Vincent Parks, left on the morning of July 17 for a law enforcement training exercise in North Little Rock— and unfortunately never made it back home.
"He was the best husband, father, and son you could ask for," Christina said.
Vincent was an officer with the Jonesboro Police Department who was barely two months on the job. That training was at ALETA, the Central Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy.
"We said, 'I love you,'" Christina said. "That's the last time I saw him alive."
At ALETA, officers from around the state train in all aspects of law enforcement.
Vincent was among those who were training on July 17.
In video footage that we received through a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit from the Arkansas State Police— Vincent can be clearly seen working out with others, struggling in the July heat.
On that day, the weather data showed temperatures over 100 degrees, and the National Weather Service had issued a heat advisory. Documents that we received showed that other Jonesboro Police officers told their chief that they felt they were being hazed.
"He was in perfect health when I sent him there," Christina said.
As the training went on, the heat began affecting the trainees— especially Vincent. He collapsed and was eventually treated by first responders.
Vincent would not survive.
"If he wouldn't have gone to their facility that day and [to] train, he still would have been alive today," she said.
The hole that Vincent left behind is hard to fill— but Christina has been doing what she can, and pushing for change.
"That this is going to shed a positive light on this negative experience that we've had," Christina said.
Inside a House Committee room on Thursday morning, that change finally came.
"I knew in my heart that I could not let Officer Parks' life be in vain," State Representative Fran Cavenaugh, (R-Walnut Ridge), said, as she spoke to the House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee.
House Bill 1458 was introduced earlier this week, and it would require instructors to complete training to recognize and manage health conditions in trainees.
The bill is also called the Vincent Parks Law.
It passed unanimously out of committee, and the bill now heads to the House floor.
Though a passing vote helps fill the void— for Christina, it's a chance to make sure this never happens again.
"Just the pain that our family has experienced over the last seven months," she said. "I hope nobody has to experience it because it could have been prevented. It easily could have been prevented."