Three public servants killed in the line of duty will be honored with a new project along the Indiana Toll Road.
Indiana State Police Sergeant Nora Werner and the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company have teamed up to place memorial signs along the Indiana Toll Road.
Master Trooper David Deuter, Trooper Richard Gaston, and Equipment Operator Dan Miller were all killed while working on the toll road.
Deuter was killed after being hit by a semitrailer while making a traffic stop near Howe in 1998. A sign commemorating Deuter has been placed on the westbound lanes at the 129 mile marker in LaGrange County.
Gaston’s patrol car was hit from behind by a semitrailer a year later between the Notre Dame and bypass exits after just three months on the job. A man and child in another car were also killed.
Miller was killed in 2012 while performing roadside work with his crew about a mile east of the Michigan City exit.
Sergeant Werner says the signs are a way to commemorate the three and to honor and remember all lives of law enforcement officer that have been lost.
There’s a dedication ceremony at the Toll Road Post Memorial service at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Indiana State Police’s Toll Road post in Bristol, but the memorial signs have already been placed along the roadway.
Meanwhile, the Elkhart Police Department will host their own officer’s memorial service at noon Monday, May 15 to honor the five officers – Michael Swygart, Douglas Adams, Henry Wentz, Oren Shelmadine, and Willard Burton – who have lost their lives in the line of duty. It will be held behind the police department building on East Marion Street.
95.3 MNC’s Tom Franklin contributed to this story.
