Hundreds drove slowly past the open coffin of Overland Park officer Mike Mosher Tuesday afternoon, some weeping and some saluting.
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies stood guard on the coffin of the 15-year department veteran who was killed May 4. With the threat of the spreading coronavirus, mourners were limited to driving by the visitation.
Mosher died in a gun battle with a hit-and-run driver. That driver, Phillip Carney, also died in the shootout.
Mosher was off duty at the time, but he followed the driver after witnessing the accident. Mosher radioed for help and told dispatchers that the suspect had parked and then got out of his vehicle to confront the officer. Then gunshots crackled across the police radio, and witnesses started calling the police department with reports of an officer down.
“He was proud to be a police officer,” Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez said in a statement. “He loved what he did and he was damn good at it.”
Mosher was the second Overland Park police officer killed in the line of duty, and the first since 1985.
