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Harry Edward Kier ("Skip")
- Oct. 28, 1980 -
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(372)
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Resided: |
Anchorage AK, USA
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Born: | Dec. 30, 1949 |
Fallen: | Oct. 28, 1980 |
Race/Sex: | Caucasian Male / 30 yrs. of age |
| Agency |
Dept: | Anchorage Police Dept.
4501 Elmore Rd Anchorage, AK
99507 USA (907)786-8500 |
County: | Anchorage |
Dept. Type: | Municipal/Police |
Hero's Rank: | Patrolman |
Sworn Date: | 1978 |
FBI Class: | Crash |
Weapon Class: | Vehicle |
Agency URL: | Click Here
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Bio: Harry Edward Kier, 30, was born on Dec. 30, 1949, in Richwood, New Jersey, to James Shern and Louise Dygert Kier. He was one of four brothers: Shern James (born in 1947), Harry Edward (1949), Kurt Charles (1950), and Sam William (1955).
The Kier family has lived in the Richwood, N.J., area for four generations. His great, grandfather (Jacob Kier), his grandfather (Charles Kier), and his father (James Shern Kier) were all farmers near Richwood (20 miles south of Philadelphia). His maternal grandfather, Charles Manchester (1889-1951), was born in born in Berlin, NY, and his maternal grandmother, Lola Consuela Valentine Manchester (1900-1948), in Charleston, WV. Charles and Lola met in PA and married in Philadelphia in 1918. Young Harry was raised in Richwood, NJ, and attended the public schools in Mullica Hill, NJ. He played Little League baseball and was involved in horse shows with his horse, King. His mother remembers that the family didn't have a horse trailor and so Harry rode his horse to the shows and "always brought home a ribbon and a big smile." Harry was accompanied everywhere he went by his dog, Teddy, a Dalmatian. He also liked to hunt with his beagle, Flip. He also enjoyed riding his motorcycle which he bought from monies earned working on the farms of neighbors. The family attended the First United Methodist Church of Ewan.
Harry graduated from Clearview Regional H.S. in Richwood, NJ, in 1968. He was active in football and track & field in H.S.
Harry attended Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, WV (40 miles south of Morgantown), from 1968-1971. He met Patricia Doss while in college and the two were married in Accoville (near Logan), WV, on Aug. 8, 1971, when Harry was 21. Their only child, Dawn, was born on Dec. 17, 1974.
Harry came to Alaska at the age of 22 in 1972 with the U.S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Richardson as a military policeman. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1977 he decided to stay in AK and became a security guard at Teamsters Mall. He graduated from the Anchorage Police Dept. Police Academy in 1978 and was a two-year veteran of the dept. at the time of his death.
Kier was an "avid sportsman" and competed in softball, golf, football and racquetball. He played on the A.P.D.'s softball and football teams and played quarterback for A.P.D.'s "Blueboars" who defeated the AK State Troopers "Super Pigs" 13-6 in the first "Pig Bowl" game on Sept. 9, 1979, in Anchorage before a crowd of 3,000. He also loved the outdoors and hunting (one of the reasons he stayed in AK). |
Survived by: |
and a daughter, Dawn, 5; his parents, James Shern Kier, 58, and Louise Kier, 52, of Sewell, N.J.; and his three brothers, Shern James Kier, 33, of Springfield, OR, Kurt Charles Kier, 29, of Kamloops, B.C., and Sam William Kier, 25, of Sewell, N.J.
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Fatal Incident Summary
Offender: |
none
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Location: |
AK
USA
Tue. Oct. 28, 1980
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Summary: |
Anchorage Officer Harry Kier, 30, was killed in a traffic accident on Oct. 28, 1980. He became the fifth Anchorage Police Dept. officer killed in the line of duty.
Around 3:30AM on Tuesday, Oct. 28, Officer Kier was responding to an emergency call about a fire at a Tesoro gas station at Third Ave. and Muldoon Road. Due to the seriousness of a fire near a station's gasoline supplies, Kier "was given an emergency priority code response allowing him to use emergency lights and siren." He was "speeding to the scene" on a stretch of the Glenn Highway near McCarrey St. when the "slick road conditions" caused by rain and snow caused his car to go out of control ("leaving the roadway"), hit a power pole and explode into flames." No other vehicles were involved in the accident.
A fire crew responding to the gas station fire arrived on the scene of Kier's accident but was unable to douse the flaming patrol car in time to save Kier's life.
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Source: |
Book Excerpted in part or in whole from Dr. Wilbanks book-
FORGOTTEN HEROES: POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN ALASKA, 1867-1998
By Dr. Wm. Wilbanks FL International University
To be published by Turner Publications in early 1999
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