SPOKANE, Wash. -- When Donald Ross's sister passed, more than 100 people attended her funeral mass in Spokane.

The burial was scheduled for a nearby cemetery, but Ross and his family only made it a quarter of a mile when flashing lights forced them to the side of the road.

"Harold, his (my husband's) brother, said, 'You pulled us out of a funeral procession,'" said wife Shirley Ross.

But the deputy kept them there, writing up five citations because the driver and the passengers were not wearing a seat belts. And the sheriff's department says he had every right.

"We're out here trying to prevent funerals, not disrupt them," said Dave Reagan of Spokane County Sheriff's Office.

Those five tickets took 12 minutes to write. By the time Ross and his family members got back on the road, the burial was over.

The family members admit they weren't wearing their seat belts, but say it shouldn't have cost them the chance to say goodbye.

"It's a stage in our life where you want to give your last respects and hear the final prayers and the closing of the ceremony," Shirley Ross said. "We missed that and it's something I'll remember for as long as I live. And I think it was just uncalled for."

The deputy, who was a part of a special emphasis group, was only giving out tickets, not warnings. Donald and Shirley Ross plan to appeal theirs.

"I think it was unjust. It was totally unbelievable," said Shirley Ross.