State highways renamed to salute fallen officers
Friday, November 12 at 9 a.m., in a dedication ceremony at the Gordon A. Burgess Governmental Complex in Amite, the State of Louisiana honored Two Tangipahoa Parish deputies and another from Washington Parish by renaming state highways in honor of the fallen officers.
Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller said concerns from the state transportation department prevented officials from conducting the ceremonies on the highways, but the state erected rebranded road signs following the ceremony.
Readers of this column know I recorded extensively the details of Deputies R. A. Kent and Ed Toefield Jr.’s deaths in my book, Bayou Justice: South Louisiana Cold Case Files, but I thought it fitting to recap their acts of bravery this week.
A suspect shot and killed Tangipahoa Parish Deputy Sheriff Richard Amacker Kent, III, Saturday, November 2, 1985, just after 9:00 pm.
Deputy Kent stopped the suspect after a store owner said the man attempted to break into a drink machine at Guy’s Grocery on Louisiana 38, east of Kentwood, Deputy Kent, along with officers from the town of Kentwood, arrived at the scene and arrested the man. Deputy Kent knew the suspect and placed him in his patrol car before stepping inside to take a report from a store employee. Outside, the suspect, investigators believe, the suspect removed Deputy Kent’s shotgun from its mount on the patrol car cage.
When Deputy Kent stepped back outside, investigators believe, he found the suspect pointing the shotgun drew his service weapon. The suspect and Deputy Kent exchanged shots. One hit the officer in the chest. According to one witness, the suspect, wounded in the arm, approached Deputy Kent and shot him a second time as he lay on the ground.
The suspect fled, but the Kentwood officers apprehended him when he crashed his car, and he later served time for manslaughter.
Deputy R. A. Kent died minutes after midnight at Seventh Ward General Hospital in Hammond.
Deputy Sheriff Edward Toefield died attempting to arrest a fugitive in Amite, a man wanted for robbing a bank in New Orleans and for raping a juvenile, his daughter. Deputy Toefield encountered the man at the Hi-Ho Sam’s Restaurant and placed him under arrest. As the deputy searched the suspect, the man pulled a hidden gun from his waistband and shot Deputy Toefield. The man fled into nearby woods. A corrections officer involved in the manhunt shot and wounded the suspect the following day after he pointed the Toefield murder weapon at the officer.
A 21st Judicial District judge sentenced Toefield’s assailant to death, but in October 2015, another judge reduced the death sentence to life in prison.
On August 6, 2004, enemy action felled Marine Lance Corporal Larry L. Wells, 22, of Mount Hermon in Washington Parish, in the An-Najaf Province of Iraq. He served Unit Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.
Although the renaming ceremonies took place this week, the Louisiana state legislature officially renamed the highways in their 2021 legislative session. Senator Beth Mizell, a republican from District 12, authored the bill to rename the highways. Governor John Bel Edwards signed the bill on June 19, 2021.
The portion of Highway 38 stretching from the Tangipahoa Parish line to Louisiana Highway 25 in the Washington Parish community of Clifton is now the Corporal Larry L. Wells Memorial Highway.
Highway 38 from the Tangipahoa River, a mile east of Louisiana Highway 1054 in Tangipahoa Parish, is now the Deputy R.A. Kent Memorial Highway.
United States Highway 51 between its intersection with Louisiana Highway 16 near the town of Amite City and a point two and one-half miles south of the intersection in Tangipahoa Parish is today the Deputy Ed Toefield Jr. Memorial Highway.
Other deputies who died serving Tangipahoa Parish include Deputy Sheriff John McGee, murdered Sunday, September 29, 1912, and Deputy Sheriff Kietrell Michael Pitts, who died of Covid, Sunday, May 31, 2020.
The fallen officers in Washington Parish include Sheriff Henry S. Burkhalter, shot Friday, April 7, 1899; Deputies Wiley Pierce and Robert Wesley Crain, killed Saturday, March 3, 1923; Deputy Sheriff Delos C. Wood, shot Saturday, July 21, 1934; Deputy Sheriff Oneal Moore, shot and killed Wednesday, June 2, 1965; Deputy Sheriff Jeffery Bickham, struck by a vehicle, Tuesday, September 20, 2005; and Deputy Sheriff Yvonne D. Pettit, shot Monday, December 4, 2006.
Perhaps it is time to rename a few more highways, parks, or government buildings.