Funeral arrangements announced for Iowa State Patrol Sgt Jim Smith press-citizen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from press-citizen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
INDEPENDENCE Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith left his hometown for the last time Friday night, called with his tactical team to the scene of a standoff with an armed man in Grundy Center, 50 miles away.
It was, said Sgt. Joe Schwinghammer, a friend in the Buchanan County sheriff s office, what he loved to do.
On Sunday, Smith came home to Independence also for the last time.
Hundreds of people lined State Highway 150, some with their hands on their hearts, to watch solemnly as dozens of Iowa State Patrol and other law enforcement vehicles from across the state entered town. Their emergency lights blazing, they passed beneath a U.S. flag suspended from a fire department ladder truck.
Northeast Iowa town gathers for return of fallen hero Sgt Jim Smith amestrib.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from amestrib.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, who was fatally shot during an hours-long standoff Friday evening in Grundy Center, was a 27-year veteran of the patrol and was described as a well-known community volunteer.
Smith joined the State Patrol after graduating from the Department of Public Safety Academy, according to a biography posted on the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy s Facebook page. He was first assigned to work in Fairfield, then in 1996 was moved to Oelwein. Trooper Jim Smith is proud and humbled by his position as an Iowa State Trooper, the 2018 posting said. He consistently performs his duties everyday with the motoring public safety his number one priority, along with having the I can make a difference mindset. Keeping busy throughout his shift, looking beyond the original stop Trooper Smith goes above and beyond expectations and is a positive role model for his fellow officers.