'The pain I felt is unreal': Grieving mother blasts cops for raiding her son's funeral to arrest his best friend

A grieving mother in Virginia had to deal with more than the loss of her son, who died suddenly at 31 -- a raid of his funeral by the cops, McClatchy reports.

Donna Watson described her experience on Facebook.

"Let me first start by saying I respect and understand the police and know they have a job to do. But sometimes you have to have common sense. While I was spending my last moments with my son it was ruined by Hopewell Police Department for their outrageous actions at the funeral of my child," Watson wrote.

"In the midst of the service, several police entered the funeral home and removed my son’s best friend. They were obviously watching the funeral home to make sure he would show up, and they disrupted my child’s funeral service. What kind of protocol is this? Is this the way Hopewell Police are trained?" she wondered.

"They arrived, in tactical gear, and removed my child’s best friend during the actual service and took him out," she continued.

"There was standing room only in the chapel, so you can imagine the scene. After being taken outside the chapel, my son’s best friend begged the officers to please let him go back in because this was, and always had been his best friend."

"They handcuffed him, and let him sit outside the chapel doors to listen to the service."

The grieving mother's trauma was compounded by police actions. "I'll never get the image of Rodney being escorted and waiting in line with a police officer with a bullet proof vest, breaking down, couldn't even talk, hardly could stand and wanting so badly to hug his best friend one more time. The pain I felt is unreal."

Hopewell police Lt. Paul Intravia called the situation “unfortunate” but defended the officers' actions, adding “officers responded to the location because of reports Peace would be there at that time. We had been looking for him for some time and he has avoided arrest since October last year.”

Peace was wanted for felony credit card fraud.