Posted on 01/09/2004 7:21:05 AM PST by Holly_P
Grant chief 1 of 4 in area killed on job during the last year
Grant Police Chief Verlon Lemaster was among 148 police officers who died in the line of duty across the nation in 2003, the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund said Monday.
Just four and a half months later, two other North Alabama officers, police Sgt. Larry Russell, 42, and Tony Mims, 40, were shot death when they answered a call Friday from a home in Athens.
Farron Barksdale, 28, was charged with counts of capital murder in their deaths. He is being held in the Limestone County Jail without bond. If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
According to the memorial fund, 2003 was the second year in a row that 148 officers lost their lives on the job. The number was below the decade-long average of 166 annual police deaths.
Lemaster, 48, was one of four members of law enforcement in North Alabama killed in the line of duty last year.
Lemaster was fatally shot Aug. 15 when he and other officers attempted to pick up two teens at a Grant residence because they were alleged juvenile runaways.
Brian Alan Butler and Jerid Eldridge, both 17 and of New Hope, have been indicted on capital murder charges by the Marshall County grand jury. If convicted, they face either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Awaiting trial, Butler is being held in the Madison County jail and Eldridge in the Blount County jail.
On June 7, Fayette police officers Arnold Strickland, 55, and Cpl. James Crump, 40, and dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer, 38, were fatally wounded in a shooting inside the Fayette Police Department.
Devin Darnell Thompson, 18, is awaiting trial on six counts of capital murder for the slayings. He was at the Police Department after being arrested for allegedly driving a stolen car.
The North Alabama officers were among 52 nationwide who were shot to death last year. Auto accidents killed 53 officers, the report said.
Of the other officers killed in the line of duty last year:
13 were struck by cars while on duty outside their vehicles;
11 died in motorcycle accidents;
Six died from work-related illnesses;
Four drowned;
Two suffered fatal beatings;
Two fell to their deaths.
In addition, one was stabbed to death, one died in an aircraft accident, one was electrocuted, one was strangled and one was hit by a train.
The names of all the officers killed in 2003 will be formally added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial during a candlelight vigil on May 13.
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