On the recordDecember 1, 2016
on Friday, November 18, 2016, Eric Ellsworth of Brigham City, UT, began his day like virtually every other day of his adult life. He put on his uniform and drove to work fully aware that it could be his last day on Earth. Eric was a State trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol, and for 7 years this is how he began each day: by summoning enough courage to last most men a lifetime. Why did he do it? I never had the privilege of meeting Eric. But over the past several days I have read a great deal about him, and based on the comments of his family, friends, and colleagues, I suspect the answer is that Eric wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Like all law enforcement officers, the life of a trooper is a life of service to one's community and one's fellow man--the vulnerable, the needy, and the insecure. It is also a life of sacrifice. And on November 18, 2016--that Friday that began like all the others--Trooper Ellsworth made the ultimate sacrifice. While directing traffic to avoid a roadway hazard along a rural stretch of State Route 13 near Garland in Box Elder County, Trooper Ellsworth was accidentally struck by a passing vehicle. For 4 days, he remained in critical condition at Intermountain Medical Center, defying the odds and fighting to live another day in that uniform. But on November 22, 2016, Eric succumbed to the injuries sustained in the crash and passed from this life into the next.…
