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Top law enforcement honor goes to 11 officers

Washington State Patrol troopers salute next to their motorcycles during the annual law enforcement medal of honor ceremony Friday at the Capitol in Olympia. Honorees included Trooper Sean O’Connell Jr., who was killed last May in a motorcycle accident while he was helping with a traffic detour. (Associated Press)
Washington State Patrol troopers salute next to their motorcycles during the annual law enforcement medal of honor ceremony Friday at the Capitol in Olympia. Honorees included Trooper Sean O’Connell Jr., who was killed last May in a motorcycle accident while he was helping with a traffic detour. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

OLYMPIA – The state’s highest law enforcement honor was awarded Friday to 11 officers, including a trooper who was killed last year when his motorcycle collided with a truck as he was detouring traffic about a week after a section of the Skagit River bridge collapsed in the river.

Trooper Sean M. O’Connell Jr. was among six who were awarded the medal for posthumous service. O’Connell’s medal was accepted by his wife and one of his children at a ceremony at the Washington state Law Enforcement Memorial on the Capitol campus.

Five other officers who died on duty between 1919 and 1976 were also recognized Friday: Seattle Police Officer Edwin J. Wilson, who died Sept. 24, 1919, after his motorcycle went out of control and struck a telephone pole while he was returning to headquarters after handling a call; Seattle Police Officer Ellsworth Cordes, who died Dec. 31, 1932, after his police motorcycle collided with a streetcar; Seattle Police Officer John T. Clancy Jr., who died Dec. 24, 1949, after his police motorcycle was struck by a drunken driver; Seattle Police Officer David P. Richards, who died Sept. 1, 1967, when his police motorcycle went out of control and struck a guardrail; and Seattle Police Officer Jerry L. Wyant, who died on Oct. 26, 1976, after his motorcycle was struck by a delivery truck.

As of April 14, 280 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in the state of Washington, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

One Washington state trooper was posthumously awarded the medal for serious injury. Trooper Michael Buckingham was pursuing a drunken driver who collided with another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction in April 1981. That vehicle then crashed into Buckingham’s vehicle, leaving him trapped and unconscious and his vehicle engulfed in flames.

Another three received the medal of honor for meritorious conduct:

• Bellingham Police Sgt. Donald L. Almer, who pursued an armed robbery suspect vehicle while being fired upon last August. Almer administered first aid to both suspects after the vehicle crashed and he returned fire after the driver fired upon him.

• Chelan County Sheriff’s Deputies Adam Musgrove and Ryan Moody, who saved a man from a burning building last September.

• Monroe Police Sgt. Rick Dunn, who moved a suicidal man from the path of a train last June.