Saturday marks 1 year since deputy killed in head-on crash
Saturday marks one year since a Miller County sheriff’s deputy was killed in a head-on crash while on-duty.
On April 20, 2018, Deputy Casey Shoemate, who was responding to a fire, died after he attempted to pass a firetruck that did not have its emergency lights on when he crashed head-on with a car driven by Robert Levin in April 2018, while responding to a fire.
On Saturday, local law enforcement agencies had a graveside service in the Eldon Cemetery in Eldon, Missouri. There was a flag-raising sponsored by the Eldon Police Department and Sam Shoemate. Shoemate’s family presented a check to the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Team in Casey’s memory.
Shoemate’s mother, Betsey Browning, said it was important for the family to give back to the organization that provided them so much help.
“The one people that just continually stood out was the Missouri Law Enforcment Assistance Funeral Team who literally at times physically carried us through our darkest few days there after and helped me plan an absolutely beautiful service for my son that I would not’ve been able to mentally or physically,” Browning said.
Les Kerr, CEO of the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Team, said the organization helps families focus on their own well-being during such a dark time.”We can take that burden of planning and carrying out a funeral off of them so they can start that
grieving process right away,” Kerr said.
Browning said the family started raising money by raffling off a gun Shoemate wanted for Christmas. After that they started “Tipping Cops for Casey” at the steakhouse Shoemate’s mother and grandmother own.
“This is the neatest part of it all. When we began to count money last night to get the total, the total was $8,033. And Casey’s badge number for 4 1/2 years was 833,” Browning said.
Full interview with Betsey Brown:
Columbia Police Department interim Chief Geoff Jones said a few words at the ceremony and there was be a moment of silence at 5:53 p.m.
All members of the community, law enforcement, family and friends are invited.
