Arizona DPS to honor lives of fallen officers
May 5, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 5:00 am
PHOENIX — Gone but not forgotten, the Arizona Department of Public Safety plans to honor all those who have died in the line of duty.
DPS, Gov. Jan Brewer and the Arizona Highway Patrol Association will honor all 29 DPS officers who have died by remembering their lives, careers and sacrifices Monday morning on the DPS memorial lawn at 2102 W. Encanto Blvd. in Phoenix.
The ceremony will also include the unveiling of a plaque for fallen DPS Officer Timothy Huffman, 47, who was killed May 6, 2013 by a distracted driver, on the same day as last year’s annual DPS memorial service.
Huffman was a part of the DPS Highway Patrol and based in Yuma when he was struck by a tanker truck that failed to yield to a lane closure due to an injury collision. Huffman was seated in his patrol car, writing a report when the crash happened.
Of the 29 officers killed, 17 were due to traffic related incidents, eight were murdered, two died in a helicopter crash, one in a helicopter accident and one killed in a train explosion.