May 3, 2008 7:11 pm US/Central
MN Officers Bike To Honor Fallen Comrades
(WCCO)
Three Minnesota law enforcement officers will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. later this month and 25 current officers from Minnesota will be there to see it.
Officers from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Roseville, Edina, Ramsey County, Fridley, the state and federal government will be riding their bikes 250 miles from Norfolk, Va. to Washington, D.C before a candlelight vigil on May 13.
It will be Minneapolis Park Police Sergeant Rick Doll's third Police Unity Tour ride, but his first for a friend. He and Minneapolis Park Police officer Mark Bedard joined the force in 1997. Bedard died last year after he was hit by a police car when he was chasing a suspect.
"I'll tell you, I'm not looking forward to seeing his name on the wall because I wish, I guess somewhere deep down, I wish I'd see him in the office when I come back," Doll said.
Doll and his riding teammates haven't had much time to train outside this winter. It's a tough course for the Minnesotans not used to warm weather.
The first day, the tour rides 100 miles on a relatively flat road. The second and third days are more difficult because of the rolling hills in Virginia.
"We also try to remember that even if we're uncomfortable, even if we're sore and we're tired, that what we're doing we're doing in the memory of someone that can't be here," said Lynn Gannon, an investigator for the Department of the Interior.
She brought the Police Unity Tour to Minnesota eight years and has been riding ever since.
The Minnesota team will also be riding for Clay County Deputy Scott Rogers. He died in 2006 when he suffered a heart attack participating in the department's physical fitness program.
Ghent Police Officer Arnold Borson's name will also be added to the memorial. He died in 1936 while trying to stop a burglary in Ghent, a small town in southwest Minnesota.
Funds raised from the Police Unity Tour go to the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial and Museum. For more information, you can go to their Web site.
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