DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a Canadian police officer who lost their lives on Interstate 95 will be remembered after a part of the highway in Deerfield Beach was designated in their honor.
Trooper Phillip Black and Cpl. Donald Irwin will be memorialized on a roadway designation sign that was unveiled on Thursday.
The sign has been installed along the northbound lanes north of Sample Road, where the two men lost their lives in 1976.
“At approximately 7:10 in the morning, Trooper Black approached a Chevrolet Camaro parked at the rest area off I-95 in Deerfield Beach,” FHP Director Col. Gene Spaulding said. “Inside the parked Camaro were three adults and two small children. Trooper Black discovered a firearm in the Camaro.”
The subjects then fired back at Black and Irwin, who was a Canadian police officer doing a ride-along. Both men would succumb to their injuries.
“All three suspects were arrested and sentenced as a result of the shooting,” Spaulding said. “One subject was sentenced to death and executed on May 4, 1990.”
Both men and their families were honored at Thursday’s ceremony.
“You’ll have millions of drivers a year see these signs, and it’ll click something, but it really means something to the families, the other troopers, the other law enforcement officers that work in the area to know that their sacrifice did make a difference,” Spaulding said.
FHP hopes the sign will remind drivers to stay alert, wear their seat belt and slow down.
If a motorist sees a trooper or another police officer, FHP said to move over, and hopefully, in turn, that will save more lives.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.