Iowa law enforcement honors fallen deputy with procession
By Alex McLoon
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FREMONT COUNTY, Iowa (KETV) — Iowa first responders saluted a fallen deputy Wednesday.
The Iowa State Patrol said 37-year-old Melvin Richardson, a deputy with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, died after his patrol car collided with a combine driven by 64-year-old James Groff on Tuesday.
“We just want them to know we’re all behind them. We’ll support his wife and his kids and his family as best we can,” William Boyd, with the Percival and Sidney Fire Department, said.
Richardson was also a volunteer firefighter for Percival and Sidney, and members said they share much of the same roster.
On Wednesday, law enforcement escorted his body from the medical examiner’s office in Ankeny to the funeral home in Hamburg.
They draped the American flag for Richardson’s family, who was driving in the procession from Des Moines.
Richardson’s friends and fellow firefighters — one of whom was a groomsman in his wedding — had to respond to Tuesday’s crash.
“This is one of those signs the brotherhood is coming together,” Craig Marshall, fire chief for the Sidney Fire Department, said.
In the crash, which occurred Tuesday afternoon, the combine was traveling southbound on Highway 275 and the tires on the combine were wider than the width of the southbound lane, according to an accident report supplied by the Iowa State Patrol. The left front dual tire was “to left of center in the northbound lane.”
According to the accident report, Richardson’s vehicle was traveling northbound on Highway 275 and collided with the front dual tire. The vehicle “skid sideways and rolled several times.”
Groff was not hurt in the crash.
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