Highway dedicated to late trooper
By JOSEPH SLACIAN
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 9:41 PM EDT
Dave Rich was remembered on Wednesday as a dedicated police officer. More importantly, he was remembered as a dedicated father who put his family before everything.
Rich, a Master Trooper Detective with the Indiana State Police, was killed in the line of duty on July 5, 2007.
On Wednesday, a portion of U.S. 24 - a half mile stretch on either side of the site where Rich was gunned down by a man whom he thought was a stranded motorist - was named the Master Trooper Detective David E. Rich Memorial Mile.
A sign designating the stretch of highway was unveiled during a brief ceremony at the David E. Rich Memorial Park in Wabash. Another sign was unveiled immediately after the ceremony along the eastbound lanes of U.S. 24 near Ind. 115.
David Rich would be proud and humbled by the honor, his brother, ISP Capt. Bob Rich, told the crowd of state, county and local police officers, firefighters, family, friends and the public. “He didn't like being the center of attention,” Bob Rich continued.
Capt. Rich thanked all involved in making the roadway possible, including Gov. Mitch Daniels, State Rep. Bill Ruppel, State Sen. Gary “Doc” Dillon, Mayor Bob Vanlandingham, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Indiana State Police executive committee, the ISP's Peru Post and the Fraternal Order of Police.
“Wabash County is a special place,” Capt. Rich said. “The values the community stands for can be seen all around us.”
It's not unusual, he said, for a community to rally around someone in a time of tragedy. All too often, though, that support soon dwindles and the event becomes a passing memory.
“Not in Wabash County,” Capt. Rich said. “The support the family received is just as strong today as it was on July 5, 2007.
“It's often said that police officers and firefighters run into danger, often putting their lives on the line, when other people are running out. In Wabash County, the people are there covering our backs.”
Capt. Rich said he truly believes that if his brother knew exactly when and where he would pass away, he would have chosen to live in Northcentral Indiana, more specifically Wabash County, because of the kind, caring people the community has here.
Ruppel, who was instrumental in getting the stretch of road named in Master Trooper Detective Rich's honor, said Rich “was a kind, gentle family man who followed God and wanted to protect and help others. That, ultimately, led to his demise.”
He said he hopes the stretch of roadway not only reminds people of Det. Rich and his life, but that it “reminds people of the dangerous job that state and local police officers do.”
“As long as we remember David in our hearts and minds, he will live on in all of us.”
Lt. Mike Nichols, who was commander of the ISP Peru Post when Rich was killed, remembered the master trooper as a family man who always had a story about his three young children.
“He was more than the Father of the Year,” Nichols said. “He was the Father of a Lifetime to his three young children.”
Capt. Ed Schroeder, the Indiana State Police's Area 1 commander, said he hopes that one day, a young family with three rambunctious children in the car drive past the memorial marker.
“I hope one of the children asks, ‘Daddy, who was Master Trooper David E. Rich?'” Schroeder said. “And I hope the father relates the story we have just heard here today.”
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