Slain Logan County deputy laid to rest
GUTHRIE — Gesturing toward the hundreds of well-wishers who crowded into the Lazy E Arena on Monday afternoon, Mike Thompson told the family of fallen Logan County Deputy David Wade that they might reasonably wonder why so many strangers had come out to remember their loved one.
Grief is a private, personal emotion, especially acute when a man like Wade dies before his time, said Thompson, commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. So it might seem odd to see so many unfamiliar faces.
But Thompson said they could take comfort in the knowledge that the qualities that brought those people out in the hundreds were the same ones that made Wade an exemplary public servant.
“He stood for integrity. He stood for courage. He stood for service,” Thompson said. “That’s why we’re all here.”
Wade, 40, was shot while helping to serve an eviction notice about 9 a.m. April 18. He was taken by helicopter to OU Medical Center with gunshot
He stood for integrity. He stood for courage. He stood for service.” Mike Thompson, commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
wounds to his face and body. He went into cardiac arrest, but doctors were able to revive him long enough to get him into surgery. Wade died at 11:51 a.m. on the operating table, officials said.
After a manhunt that stretched into that afternoon, officers arrested Nathan Aaron LeForce, 45, of Perry, in connection with the shooting. Logan County prosecutors charged LeForce with first-degree murder, larceny of a motor vehicle and armed robbery after a former felony conviction. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in the case.
Family, friends and community members joined law enforcement officers from a number of agencies across the state and nation at the public funeral Monday at the Lazy E Arena. Logan County officials said police departments in New York, Chicago, Colorado and Wisconsin sent officers to the funeral.
A few minutes before 1 p.m., hundreds of people already had packed the stands when an honor guard lining the walkway into the arena snapped to attention. An overhead door opened, and about 400 family members, friends and law enforcement officers made their way into the building.
Led by a bagpiper playing “Highland Cathedral,” they filed onto the arena floor and took their seats as well-wishers in the stands stood in silence.
During the funeral, Wade’s brother, Jerry Wade, remembered days spent at their family home, watching science fiction movies or lying on the floor and watching as his brother put together intricate models of historical military vehicles.
Shortly after high school, when David Wade enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard, Jerry Wade followed him. The two were members of Company C of the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, eventually serving together on a deployment to Bosnia in the 1990s.
Although he acknowledged that it isn’t customary to share unflattering details about a loved one’s life at his funeral, Jerry Wade said it wouldn’t be possible to paint an accurate picture of his brother without doing so. The men’s father suffered from depression, and Jerry Wade said he suspected David Wade did, as well. The two men could be impatient and quick to anger — something that led to rifts that took years to heal, he said.
“In the end, however, the good has outweighed the bad,” he said. “It must have, or I would not be standing here today.”
Cashion Police Chief Veronica Thomas remembered Wade as a capable officer, and honest to a fault. Wade served under Thomas before moving to the Logan County sheriff’s office.
Thomas remembered one of her first interactions with Wade, when he was applying for a job with the department. A question on the application asked whether the applicant had any interaction with law enforcement. Wade answered honestly — yes, he said, he’d been arrested for vandalizing a mailbox when he was 17 years old. He was given community service.
As an officer, Wade displayed courage and integrity, Thomas said. While she was devastated to learn of his death, she said she wasn’t surprised to hear that he’d been able to return fire after being shot several times, and, later, to give officers a description of the shooter.
“Dave was a warrior in the truest sense,” Thomas said. “He was known for his bravery and skill, and a consummate professional.”