Mo. Police Honor Officer Who Died in Hunting Accident

Members of the Independence Police Department on Monday saluted a colleague who died after being injured in a weekend hunting accident.

Nov. 20, 2013

Members of the Independence Police Department on Monday saluted a colleague who died after being injured in a weekend hunting accident.

James Lockard was hunting Saturday in northwest Missouri when a falling tree knocked him off his all-terrain vehicle. Emergency personnel airlifted him to Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, where he died Sunday.

He had been a member of the Independence Police Department since July 2008 and had served in the patrol division and the special-response team. He is survived by a wife, a son and a stepson.

On Monday morning, friends and co-workers lined Noland Road as a hearse transporting Lockard's body to a funeral home paused outside Police Headquarters.

Memorial services are being planned.

Lockard was going back to his tree stand or going to pick up a slain deer when the tree fell on him amid high winds, said Nick Tompkins, a Gentry County deputy sheriff.

Donations for the family's expenses can be made to the James Lockard Memorial Fund, c/o Code One Credit Union, P.O. Box 270020, Kansas City, MO 64127.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service