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Published in the Go Blue Ridge, NC - June 09 2009
High Country Radio reported on Highway Patrol Master Trooper, Kyle P. Barber, who died last month after a medical procedure. The Winston-Salem Journal reports a memorial service will be held for the trooper tomorrow afternoon.
Barber died on May 19 at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center of complications following surgery. Barber needed several surgical procedures after an ATV pinned him against his patrol car in Wilkes County nearly two years ago.
The Journal reports Barber's memorial service will begin at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon outside the Walker Center at Wilkes Community College. Highway Patrol cruisers and other emergency vehicles will travel from Barber's home near Roaring River to the memorial service. Traffic may be affected as the procession will travel on Highway 421.
Published in the Wilkes Journal Patriot - May 21, 2009
Master Trooper Kyle P. Barber, 46, of the N.C. Highway Patrol died Tuesday afternoon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Hospital in Winston-Salem following a medical procedure related to an on-duty injury that occurred in January 2007.
Barber, who lived with his family in the Roaring River community, grew up in Glenn Falls, New York, where he graduated from Queensbury High School in 1980. He leaves behind a wife, Lynn Barber, and three children.
After working for the N.C. Department of Correction for two years, Barber joined the North Carolina State Highway Patrol in January 1985. His first duty station was in Siler City and he was assigned to the Troop F, District II office in Wilkesboro in 1995.
On Jan 20, 2007, Barber was assisting troopers C.M. Anderson and C.L. McNeill in investigating a wreck involving an all-terrain vehicle on Bethany Ford Road in the Shepherds Crossroads community.
When a man attempted to move the large four-wheeler, it went up an embankment, veered across the road and struck Barber, who was pinned to the ground.
He sustained major injuries to his lower legs, resulting in numerous medical treatments, including some 10 surgical procedures. One leg in particular was very badly broken and crushed.
Barber, after extensive physical therapy, came back on duty more than a year ago.
Through the past year, his leg pain continued to be severe and the final decision Barber made with his doctors was to have it amputated, troopers close to him said. That procedure was performed Monday at Baptist. He died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon.
The four-wheeler incident was the second time Barber had sustained a major injury in the line of duty. In 1996, Barber was writing a citation while parked on U.S. 421 East when a driver fell asleep at the wheel, went off on the right and struck the trooper's vehicle from behind.
Barber's back was severely injured, resulting in painful surgeries and a great deal of physical therapy before he was able to resume his duties.
First Sgt. K.E. Barker said he has great admiration for Barber's determination to continue his career as a state trooper. "Anybody else would have taken disability and gone home. That's all you've got to say about him. He was a classic."
When out of work because of injuries, Barber "was worried about how it was affecting his co-workers," Barker said. "I never heard him complain about his pain. Never once."
Barker and several troopers noted that Barber was determined to overcome the amputation and once again to return to work as a trooper, which would have set a precedent for the Highway Patrol.
Barker noted that Barber's personnel file was full of commendations and letters of thanks from citizens for his kindness and helpfulness while on duty.
"He was exactly what you think of when you think of a state trooper," Trooper Brandon Stokes said of Barber. "He probably gave more to the Highway Patrol than the Patrol have to him."
Barber was "always happy-go-lucky, always there when somebody needed him," Stokes said. "This is a great loss to the Highway Patrol."
"I've never known anybody who cared more about the people he served here in Wilkes County," Trooper J.R. Rankin Jr. said. Barber was "always upbeat, always a positive thinker. Nothing ever got him down.
"His desire, more than anything else in the world, was to retire as a trooper," Rankin commented. "He was determined and he came back."
Barber "loved the Highway Patrol and he loved Wilkes County," Rankin said.
Barber "was a dear friend. I would have laid my life down for him and he would have done the same for me."
Rankin noted that Barber's service to the community extended beyond his duties as a state trooper. He was a member of the Wilkes Telephone board of directors and coached girl's soccer at East Wilkes High School. A scholarship fund in Barber's name has been established through the State Employees Credit Union. The scholarship will be given each year to a soccer player at East Wilkes. The family has asked that all memorials be made to this fund.
Sgt. J.S. Cox, who graduated from Highway Patrol basic training school with Barber, described him as "the prototypical trooper-what you think about when you think about a state trooper. He would do whatever it took to get the job done."
Barber was "one of the most jovial people I've ever been around," Cox said. "He ultimately gave his life for the citizens of North Carolina."
Barber "took pride when he put on that gray uniform," Cox said.
Col. Walter J. Wilson, commander of the Highway Patrol, said this morning, "My thoughts and prayers are extended to Trooper Barber's family. The patrol is feeling the loss of one of our own, one who lost his life serving the citizens of the state."
Trooper Barber is the 61st trooper to die in the line of duty since the formation of the Highway Patrol in 1929.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time, but are being handled by Reins-Sturdivant Funeral Home.
Published in the Winston-Salem Journal - May 21, 2009
A state trooper in Wilkes County who twice faced potentially career-ending injuries has died after surgery related to the most recent accident, which occurred more than two years ago.
Master Trooper Kyle Barber of the N.C. Highway Patrol died Tuesday at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. He had undergone surgery on Monday to amputate his lower left leg.
Barber had been back at work since last fall, despite painful leg problems that persisted since he was injured Jan. 20, 2007, when an all-terrain vehicle pinned him against a patrol car.
He had worked last week, joking with colleagues about his coming surgery. He said he was nervous but ready to get it done. He had been on crutches Tuesday, friends said. He took a nap that afternoon and never woke up. A medical examiner will try to determine the cause of death.
Sgt. Jim Cox, who attended trooper school with Barber in 1985, said that Barber was the epitome of a highway-patrol trooper.
"He's just one you could always depend on to do it right like it should be done," Cox said.
Jovial and good-natured, Barber had a work file that was thick with commendations and letters from grateful motorists whom he had assisted.
Barber's career meant so much to him that he had twice battled back from injuries that might have led others to retire on disability.
In 1996, he was sitting in his patrol car beside U.S. 421 writing a citation when the driver of a pickup fell asleep and clipped his patrol car.
Barber suffered severe back injuries. He endured two years of surgeries and physical therapy to make it back to duty.
His latest surgery stemmed from a 2007 accident, in which Barber was assisting as another trooper investigated a wreck involving two ATVs on White Plains Road. The wreck had happened when one ATV came up behind the other at an estimated 45 mph and tried to pass, but clipped the left rear corner of the four-wheeler and flipped multiple times.
The driver of the ATV that attempted the pass was suspected of being drunk and was in handcuffs in the backseat of a patrol car. He would later be convicted of driving while impaired in connection with the crash.
As officers tried to clear the scene, a trooper asked the other ATV driver, who was not legally impaired, to push one of the four-wheelers off the road. The driver told troopers that he put his left foot on the ATV's floorboard, and was starting to throw his right leg over as he cranked the engine and the ATV roared away and threw him off.
The ATV went up an embankment apparently at full-throttle, then made an arc to come back down and hit Barber, pinning him against his patrol car.
Both of Barber's legs were severely injured, including a compound fracture of his right femur, the large bone in the thigh. He was airlifted to Baptist.
Determined again to return to work, he would have 10 surgeries and more physical therapy.
He came back in October 2008.
But the tissue on his left leg was giving him problems. Though he didn't complain, co-workers said, he was in constant pain. He decided he would have to have the surgery to amputate the lower leg.
He was adamant that he would come back from that, determined to get in his 30 years for retirement, telling friends that he would take legal action if he had to in order to get back on the job despite a prosthetic leg.
He made it 24 years, this past Sunday. He graduated from patrol school on May 17, 1985. He worked for 10 years in Siler City and Chatham County, and came to Wilkes County in 1995.
He and his wife, Lynn, raised two daughters and a son here. All three graduated from East Wilkes High School. Barber had coached girls soccer at the high school. He had been a board member of Wilkes Telephone and Shepherds Crossroads Fire Department.
Barber is the 61st trooper to die of causes related to the line of duty since the patrol was founded in 1929.
"My thoughts and prayers are extended to Trooper Barber's family," Commander Walter Wilson said in a statement. "The patrol is feeling the loss of one of our own, one who lost his life serving the citizens of the state."
Troopers and staff at the highway-patrol station in Wilkesboro were in shock.
"He was a tremendous friend, and one you can't replace," Cox said. "I want people to know this is an individual that is what the highway patrol is all about."
Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Reins-Sturdivant Funeral Home in North Wilkesboro. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that memorials be made to the Kyle Barber Scholarship Fund, care of the State Employees Credit Union.
Published in the Charlotte Observer - May 20, 2009
Kyle Barber, 46, died of complications from injuries suffered while on duty in January 2007.
A 46-year-old N.C. Highway Patrol trooper died Tuesday of complications from an injury he suffered while on duty more than two years ago in Wilkes County.
Kyle Barber, a 24-year veteran of the Highway Patrol, died at Wake Forest University Hospital in Winston-Salem after a medical procedure related to his injuries.
Capt. Everett Clendenin of the N.C. Highway Patol said Barber was injured Jan. 20, 2007, when he and another trooper stopped an all-terrain vehicle on a rural road. The vehicle began moving, pinning Barber against his patrol car.
Since then, Clendenin said, Barber underwent 10 surgeries and several other medical procedures.
He is the 61st trooper to die in the line of duty since the N.C. Highway Patrol was formed in 1929. Barber, a New York native, was married with three children.
Published on WFMY -May 20, 2009
Winston-Salem, NC -- A trooper died yesterday at Baptist Hospital following a medical procedure related to an on-duty injury that happened in January 2007.
Trooper Kyle P. Barber, 46, was one of two troopers attempting to stop an all-terrain vehicle on a rural road in Wilkes County last year. The ATV rolled, hit Barber, and pinned him against his patrol car.
Charlie Alexander was charged with reckless driving at the time of the incident. Captain Clendenin says they do not anticipate additional charges to be filed.
Over the last two years, he has received numerous medical treatments, including 10 surgical procedures.
Commander Walter J. Wilson said, "My thoughts and prayers are extended to Trooper Barber's family. The patrol is feeling the loss of one of our own, one who lost his life serving the citizens of the state."
Barber served with the Highway Patrol since 1985. He grew up in New York and left behind a wife, Lynn Barber, and three children.
He is the 61st trooper to die in the line of duty since the formation of the Highway Patrol in 1929.
In Memory of Master Trooper Kyle P. Barber
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