Ricks is the 52nd SC highway trooper to die on duty. Here’s a look at others
Dennis Ricks is the 52nd South Carolina highway patrolmen to die in the line of duty, according to a memorial page by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Before Ricks, the last fallen trooper — Daniel Rebman Jr. — was mourned eight years ago in 2017 after his patrol vehicle was struck by a truck as he sat stationary on I-385 in Greenville County.
With one exception, two causes of death are listed for troopers in the line of duty in South Carolina: collisions and shootings. One other trooper — Lance Cpl. Jacob Ham Jr. — died of a heart attack after he subdued and arrested a suspect in 1998.
The number one cause of trooper deaths — collisions where either motorists crash into troopers or their cars, or accidents during high-speed pursuits or call responses — have claimed 31 troopers since 1930. The first was in 1931, when Patrolman Ralph McCracken collided with a mail carrier while on a motorcycle in Fairfield County.
In 1942, Patrolman Norris Nettles was attacked by four people during a traffic stop and was shot with his own weapon. He was transported to an area hospital by two citizens and died shortly after. The four assailants were charged with murder and one was sentenced to life. However, on Jan. 21, 1947, S.C. Gov. Ransome Williams pardoned the suspect, who had been assigned to Williams as a personal servant by a S.C. prison, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Including Nettles, 20 troopers have fallen in the line duty after being shot during a traffic stop.
The most recent was in 2002 when Cpl. Kenneth Johnson was killed by a passenger of a stolen pickup at a traffic checkpoint in Berkeley County. The shooter, Jesse Sapp, was charged with murder and sentenced to death. In 2015, Sapp was found dead in his prison cell at the Lieber Correctional Institute from an apparent suicide, according to a WCSC report.
Before that, Trooper First Class Eric Nicholson, a two-year veteran, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Greenville County in 2000. The suspect, John Wood, was later captured during a shoot-out with law enforcement and sentenced to death and remains on death row.
In the agency’s latest loss, Ricks was hit by a box truck while conducting a traffic stop on the side of I-26 on Aug. 10. He suffered critical injuries and died three days later at an area hospital.
During a news conference Friday, Ricks’ wife, Jade Ricks, urged the public to follow the state’s slow down and move over law.
“As we honor Dennis, I just ask that everyone please slow down and move over for emergency vehicles,” Jade Ricks said. “My husband would still be here if everyone could do that.”
Ricks’ funeral will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Shandon Baptist Church on Forest Drive.
