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Published on KTVO - December 30, 2009
BROOKFIELD, MO -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol said goodbye to one of their own Wednesday.
Hundreds of state troopers and public service officials paid their respects to Corporal Dennis Engelhard, 49. He was killed in the line of duty on Christmas Day when struck by a vehicle while responding to a crash near St. Louis.
Funeral services were held in the Corporal's hometown of Brookfield, Missouri.
“Corporal Engelhard was one of those corporals, supervisors that did his job and did it well. He was very easy going, always smiling, always worried about his people, taking care of his people, “said Corporal Jeff Wilson, Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Corporal Engelhard graduated from Kirksville High School and Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman State University, and worked as a paramedic in Kirksville before joining the Highway Patrol in 2000.
“The patrol is one big family and as we do our daily work we are always worried about each other constantly. After the death of Corporal Engelhard, you know we did gather together especially Troop C. We had a great response out of General Headquarters,” Corporal Wilson said.
Published on FOX2now.com - December 30, 2009
BROOKFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A state trooper who died on Christmas Day while responding to an accident near St. Louis has been laid to rest in his north-central Missouri hometown.
The funeral of 49-year-old Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was held Wednesday afternoon at the Park Baptist Church Fellowship Building in Brookfield.
Engelhard was working an accident on icy Interstate 44 in Eureka on Dec. 25 when he was struck by a vehicle that went out of control.
Engelhard joined the patrol in March 2000 and was promoted to corporal in 2006. He earlier served as a paramedic in Kirksville and as a paramedic and flight paramedic in Springfield.
The funeral drew dozens of law enforcement officers from throughout Missouri and as far away as Texas.
Published in the Linn County Leader - December 28, 2009
Brookfield, Mo. - Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Dennis Engelhard, 49, Robertsville, was struck and killed Friday, December 25, 2009, while responding to an accident on I-44 east of Eureka, near St. Louis.
Funeral services will be Wednesday, December 30, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. at the Park Baptist Church Fellowship Building, Brookfield, with Pastor David Blakely and Dr. Michael Parris officiating. Visitation will begin Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. at Wright-Baker-Hill Funeral Home, Brookfield, with family receiving friends from 4:00 until 7:00 p.m. that evening.
Memorials to The MASTERS (Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society) or Christ Church Cathedral may be left at or mailed to Wright-Baker-Hill Funeral Home, P.O. Box 496, Brookfield, Mo. 64628.
Dennis Edward was born November 24, 1960 in Brookfield, son of Jim and Marge (O'Dell) Engelhard. He was a graduate of Kirksville High School and had attended Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University), Kirksville and Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar. He had worked as a paramedic in Kirksville and Springfield and had worked as a flight paramedic for Cox Air Care in Springfield. He began his career with the Missouri State Highway Patrol in 1999.
Dennis was a member of the Park Baptist Church, Brookfield, the Fellowship Baptist Church, Kirksville, and currently was a member of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis.
Survivors include his parents, Jim and Marge Engelhard, Excelsior Springs; one brother, Dan Engelhard and wife, Kelly, Oak Grove and their children, Jenna, Jacob, and Jackson; three aunts, Carol Kearns and husband, Jr., Brookfield, Frances Smart and husband, Donald, San Diego, Calif., and Bernice Engelhard, Marceline; and many loving relatives.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Elgin and Mabel Engelhard, and John and Ola O'Dell.
Published in the Springfield News-Leader - December 28, 2009
Gov. Jay Nixon has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on Wednesday in remembrance of the Missouri State Highway Patrol corporal who was killed on Christmas Day.
Dennis Engelhard,49, was killed when a passing vehicle struck him while he was assisting with traffic control on Interstate 44 in Eureka.
According to KTOV3, a TV station in Engelhard’s hometown of Brookfield, funeral services have been planned for Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Park Baptist Church Felllowship Building in Brookfield.
Visitation will take place on Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wright-Baker-Hill Funeral Home in Brookfield, according to KTOV3.
Nixon has also ordered that all flags be flown at half-staff at all Missouri Highway Patrol facilities effective immediately and until after the funeral Wednesday.
Engelhard joined the Missouri Highway Patrol in 2000 and was promoted to corporal in 2006.
He had worked as a flight paramedic with Cox Air Care, according to program director Susan Crum.
Engelhard had previously worked as a paramedic in Kirksville.
Published on KTVO - December 28, 2009
KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- Funeral services for a Missouri State Trooper killed in the line of duty on Christmas Day will be held in his hometown here in the Heartland this week.
Corporal Dennis Engelhard, 49, was fatally injured in a motor vehicle crash on Interstate 44 in Eureka, Mo., last Friday. He was assisting with traffic control when he was struck by a passing motorist.
Engelhard was originally from Brookfield, Mo., but was currently living in the St. Louis area. His family moved to Kirksville in 1974 and he graduated from Kirksville High School in 1979. He attended Northeast Missouri State University and Southwest Baptist University, and worked as a paramedic in both Kirksville and Springfield, Mo., before joining the Highway Patrol in 2000.
Engelhard was a member of Park Baptist Church in Brookfield, Mo., and Fellowship Baptist Church in Kirksville when he lived in the area. He's survived by his parents, Jim and Marge Engelhard and his brother Dan.
Visitation for Corp. Engelhard will be held Tuesday from 4p.m. to 7 p-m at Wright-Baker-Hill Funeral Home in Brookfield, Mo. Funeral services will take place Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Park Baptist Church Fellowship Building, also in Brookfield, Mo.
Published in the Springfield News-Leader - December 27, 2009
Engelhard served as a flight paramedic before joining patrol.
The state trooper who died Christmas Day after being hit by an SUV on an icy Interstate 44 is being mourned in Springfield.
Corporal Dennis E. Engelhard, 49, had worked for the Missouri Highway Patrol for the past 10 years. But for a decade before that, he worked as a flight paramedic with Cox Air Care, said program director Susan Crum.
"We got the phone calls yesterday, and it hit all of us pretty hard," Crum said Saturday.
About 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, Engelhard was responding to a noninjury accident on westbound I-44 just east of Eureka. While waiting for a tow truck to arrive, he was standing behind his vehicle -- parked in the third lane from the shoulder -- with emergency lights flashing. A sport-utility vehicle driven by St. Louis resident Donald Dornback, 58, went out of control on the ice and hit Engelhard.
He was taken to St. Clare Health Care where he was pronounced dead.
Paul and Jami Blackwell both worked with Engelhard on the Cox flight team. Engelhard was one of the original members of the team.
The Blackwells said that as a paramedic Engelhard saw many accidents caused by drunken drivers, or accidents made more traumatic by people not wearing their seat belts.
"As a trooper he had the ability to do something about it," said Paul Blackwell. "He could get some of those people off the road, and prevent some accidents."
Though some of Engelhard's friends lightly joked that their soft-spoken friend went into law enforcement and carried a gun, Jami said Engelhard seemed to really find his niche as a trooper.
"He enjoyed what he was doing, and he enjoyed being a role model," said Jami. "It was his passion and he was happy doing it."
The investigation into the crash that took Engelhard's life was continuing Saturday night. It is unclear whether it would have been prevented had the driver been driving more slowly.
"One of the things I try to teach kids is you've got to pay attention to road conditions, you may have to go slower," said Jami Blackwell, whose job includes presentations on injury prevention.
"You should watch out for law enforcement."
Published on KSDK St. Louis - December 25, 2009
EUREKA, Mo.-- A corporal with the Missouri Highway Patrol was killed near St. Louis during a traffic stop on Christmas morning. The highway patrol says Cpl. Dennis Engelhard of Wildwood was hit while working another accident on I-44 in Eureka.
The accident happened around 10:30 Friday morning near the St. Louis suburb of Eureka, while Corporal Engelhard was assisting with an accident on I-44.
"He moved all the vehicles off to the shoulder, and was on the scene for about 40 minutes waiting on a tow truck to arrive to assist the people who were involved in that previous accident," sasy Sergeant Jeff Wilson.
The highway patrol says Corporal Engelhard got out and walked to the rear of his vehicle, where he was struck by a dark colored SUV. Officers on the scene went to Engelhard's aid, but he was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the hospital.
Sergeant Al Nothum says, "Dennis was a great officer, a great trooper. He was a hard worker. He was a very quiet man."
Corporal Engelhard's colleagues won't stay quiet about this kind of tragedy happening all too often. "We have so many crashes that happen where we have emergency vehicles with their lights on, and people just seem to wait til they get up on them before they decide to break and slow down, and that's not what you're supposed to do. If you can see those lights a long ways away, that's when you slow down," Nothum says.
Prior to joining the highway patrol ten years ago, Corporal Engelhard worked as a flight paramedic for Cox Hospital in Springfield. In a 1999 story about air ambulance service in Springfield, Engelhard talked about how he and his colleagues didn't forget about patients once they were off the chopper. "Every time we fly them in, we take out a piece of paper and write their name on it and check on them every couple of days and see how they're doing," Englehard said.
Engelhard, age 49, was a 10-year veteran of the highway patrol. It's unclear if the driver of the SUV that hit Engelhard will face charges.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon asked citizens of the state to pray for the trooper's family. “My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Corporal Dennis Engelhard," said Nixon. "Today, our state has lost one of its most dedicated law-enforcement officers, and Corporal Engelhard’s family has lost a beloved son and brother."
Published in the Springfield News-Leader - December 25, 2009
A Missouri state trooper has died after being struck while working an accident on icy Interstate 44 southwest of St. Louis.
The Missouri Highway Patrol identified the trooper as 49-year-old Patrolman Dennis Engelhard, a 10-year veteran from Wildwood.
Patrol spokesman Sgt. Al Nothum told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Engelhard was struck Friday by a sport utility vehicle that lost control on westbound I-44 near Eureka.
Nothum says Engelhard had been working a minor accident and was hit while walking back to his patrol car to retrieve something.
Icy conditions led to dozens of accidents in eastern Missouri on Friday. Nothum says the SUV driver’s loss of control appears to have been weather-related and is being treated as an accident.
Gov. Jay Nixon issues statement
Gov. Jay Nixon issued a statement Friday evening about the trooper's death:
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Corporal Dennis Engelhard. Today, our state has lost one of its most dedicated law-enforcement officers, and Corporal Engelhard’s family has lost a beloved son and brother. Our Highway Patrol troopers put their lives on the line each and every day to protect our families and keep our communities safe. Corporal Engelhard served the people of Missouri honorably, and he made the ultimate sacrifice in fulfilling his duty. I ask all Missourians to join me in remembering Corporal Engelhard and his family in their prayers throughout this holiday season.”
Published on KSDK - December 25, 2009
Corporal Dennis Engelhard, 49, was struck by a vehicle while responding to the scene of a crash, Friday morning.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper was struck by a car and killed, Christmas morning, while responding to the scene of a crash on Interstate 44 near Eureka.
Officials say Corporal Dennis Engelhard, 49, of Wildwood, died from his injuries about 11:30 Friday morning.
Corporal Jeff Wilson said, "Corporal Engelhard was stopped to assist the Eureka Police with an accident. During the investigation he was waiting on a tow truck for the previous accident. He exited the left side of his vehicle and walked around to the left rear of it, where a dark-colored SUV struck Corporal Engelhard."
Investigators believe slick roads played a role in this fatal accident.
Wilson said, "Any time you have conditions like this, it always plays a role. In these icy conditions, people have to drive to the conditions."
MSHP Sergeant Al Nothum said, "We have so many of these crashes that happen where we have emergency vehicles with their lights on and people seem to just wait until they get up on them before they decide to brake and slow down. And that's not what you're supposed to do. If you can see those lights a long ways away, that's when you slow down."
Wilson said the driver of the SUV did stop on the scene. Asked whether it is possible that driver would face charges, Wilson said, "It's still under investigation."
During previous assignments, Nothum worked with Engelhard in Franklin County.
"Dennis was a great officer, a great trooper. He was a hard worker. The guy was very quiet... a very quiet man... didn't say much at all. I worked with him for several years out in Franklin County. And he didn't have a lot to say. He just showed up for work, did his job, and took a lot of drunk drivers off the highways. Dennis really liked his job and his career with the highway patrol."
MSHP officials say Engelhard is survived by his parents, who live in the Kansas City area. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Wilson said, "It's a sad day for Corporal Engelhard's family and the Missouri Highway Patrol."
"The Missouri State Highway Patrol is saddened by the loss of one our troopers today," stated Colonel James F. Keathley, superintendent of the Patrol. "We have lost one of our own in a Christmas day traffic crash, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Dennis' family. As we make our way through this holiday season we should all keep Dennis' family in our thoughts and remember that traffic crashes can affect everyone's lives. So please drive with care and urge your loved ones to do the same."
Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - December 25, 2009
EUREKA — A Christmas blast of winter weather led to dozens of stranded motorists and injuries on Friday, including the death of a state trooper who was responding to an accident.
Missouri Highway Patrolman Dennis Engelhard, 49, was on the scene of a minor accident on Interstate-44 near Eureaka when he was struck by an SUV that had lost control on the westbound section of the highway.
Engelhard, a 10-year veteran, was hit while walking to the back of his patrol car to retrieve an item from his trunk.
A spokesman for the Highway Patrol, Sgt. Al Nothum, said it’s unclear if the SUV hit a patch of ice or spun out on the slick road, but the driver’s loss of control appears to have been a result of the weather and is being treated as an accident.
Engelhard is the first Missouri trooper to die in the line of duty since Trooper Donald K. “Kevin” Floyd was killed on Sept. 22, 2005, when he was struck by a vehicle in Texas County, in south central Missouri.
According to Nothum, Engelhard was not married and had no children.
In Memory of Trooper Dennis Engelhard
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