CALDWELL, Idaho —
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office held its 10th annual memorial for fallen law enforcement officers on Friday, honoring 74 officers who had died in Idaho’s history.
Bonneville County Sheriff Samuel Hulse recalled the day of May 18, 2020, when he received the call that his deputy, Wyatt Maser, was in the hospital after being struck with a patrol car.
“I hurried and dressed and headed out the door and I told my wife, I said, ‘pray. Just pray.’ And I got just a little bit down the street and they called me again and said ‘it’s not survivable,’” Hulse told the audience. “On Wednesday, we gathered at Wyatt’s grave, the anniversary of his death, second anniversary. His young daughter, who was an infant when he was killed, was there at his headstone — to honor him.”
Maser responded to reports of a woman carrying a machete with another officer that morning. The woman, Jenna Holm, began swinging the machete at Maser, according to reporting by East Idaho News.
Then, a patrol vehicle from another officer is seen in body cam footage hitting and killing Maser, East Idaho News said.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, there have been 107 deaths in law enforcement since Jan. 1, 2022.
Fifty-five of those deaths were COVID-19 related, 20 of those deaths were gunfire related, and seven were vehicular assault.
The last officer to die in the Treasure Valley was in 1997, when Boise Police officer Mark Stall was shot and killed during a traffic stop gone bad.
Officers had stopped the car, and the passengers refused to comply with orders, according to Boise Police. Stall had responded as a backup officer.
The two passengers exited the vehicle and immediately opened fire, striking Stall on the right side of his body, just above his vest. Officers returned fire, and the passengers were killed.
“Because these men and women who were here today in uniform, and those men and women who were out on patrol today working their posts for work, it’s because of them that we can sleep just a little bit quieter,” Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said.
The Meridian Children’s Choir devoted a tribute to the fallen soldiers — as they sang, some wiped tears from their eyes.
“I look out at the men and women here and think about those that are fallen brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, what they did outside the lines, outside their service dates, can be more important than that which they did during the day or during their night shift,” U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzales said. “Those people that volunteered their time — coaching, basketball, baseball football, that were deacons in their churches, that served in soup lines, that donated their time to rake leaves for the elderly. It’s those actions and those activities that really plant the seed and grow seeds within your communities that provides a way for our offices, your offices, and all these agencies to build what we call community trust.”
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press. Read more at IdahoPress.com
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