MAINE DEPUTY LAID TO REST
Thousands gather to salute slain officer
BANGOR, Maine — Slain sheriff’s deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole was laid to rest yesterday with words from his griefstricken son, music from his old band and a flyover by law enforcement aircraft.
An estimated 3,600 people, including hundreds of law enforcement officers, paid tribute yesterday to the Somerset County deputy with one of the largest funerals in the state’s history.
Cole, 61, a father of four and a military veteran, was apparently shot executionstyle in the head as he talked on his cellphone with another officer on the night of April 25 in the remote, rural town of Norridgewock.
His killing sparked a massive four-day hunt for 29-yearold John Williams, who had been freed on reduced bail on gun charges a month earlier by a Massachusetts judge, over the objections of prosecutors. Williams, who was caught in the Maine woods, has a history of drug and burglary arrests, and had been caught in Massachusetts with an unlicensed hand gun and suspected drugs.
Cole was the first officer to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 30 years in Maine. His death came two weeks after Yarmouth, Mass., officer Sean Gannon was killed, shot while trying to serve a warrant in Barnstable. A career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet has been charged. Both cases raised criticism of lenient treatment by judges.
Yesterday Cole was praised for the way he treated people and his ability to defuse tense situations. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster quoted from a Bible verse that says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”