Grapevine Police Department
Texas
End of Watch: Saturday, June 12, 2004

Biographical Info
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 8 years
Badge Number: 6320

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Vehicular assault
Date of Incident: Saturday, June 12, 2004
Weapon Used: Automobile; Alcohol involved
Suspect Info: Sentenced to 12 years

Officer Medlin was struck and killed by an automobile being operated by an intoxicated driver. Officer Medlin was walking up to a vehicle he had stopped on Texas Highway 121 in Euless when the incident occurred.

The suspect was arrested and charged with intoxicated manslaughter and found he used his vehicle as a deadly weapon. He was found guilty of the charge on August 2, 2005. The following day he was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.

Officer Medlin had served with the Grapevine Police Department for 4 years. He had previously served as a game warden with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife for 4 years.

Officer Medlin is survived by his wife, two children, two stepchildren, mother and sister.

http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=17351

A Grapevine police officer salutes the coffin of officer Darren Medlin on Monday at the First Baptist Church Grapevine. Medlin was killed in the line of duty Saturday.

Gina Medlin receives the flag from her husband's coffin from Grapevine Police Chief Dale Wilkins. The family allowed the media to document Darren Medlin's service.

They fought to speak, emotion choking the voices of two men whose friend and colleague was gone.

Game Warden Daniel Mueller remembered Grape-vine patrol officer Darren Allen Medlin as a great father. Fellow officer Marc Shimmick said he loved his fallen comrade.

More than 1,800 people -- many of them law enforcement officers with black tape across their badges -- said goodbye to Medlin at his funeral Monday afternoon at First Baptist Church Grape-vine. The officer, who had a special skill for spotting drunken drivers, is believed to have been killed by one Saturday in Euless.

The newly formed Grapevine Fire Department honor guard stood near the church doors during his service. In a few days, they will bury one of their own.

The city of 43,700 also is mourning the death of a second Grapevine public servant -- firefighter Matthew Ringler, 33, killed Sunday night along with his son and six other people in a traffic accident near Sulphur Springs.

Grapevine firefighters "were the first at our doors when he Medlin was killed," said Grapevine police Sgt. Todd Dearing. "We will be the first now. We are all hurting."

Those who spoke at Medlin's funeral clearly were.

"He's been a wonderful dad to his daughters," said Mueller, his words halting with emotion. Before Medlin became a police officer, he and Mueller were game wardens in Denton County.

"We are going to get on with our lives, but we will be around to help the family," Mueller said.

Medlin, 34, was married and had two young daughters and two grown stepchildren. His wife, Gina, was helped into the sanctuary, where she sat a few feet from her husband's American-flag-draped coffin.

Shimmick, his voice cracking, said: "If I had a chance to talk to him one last time, I'd tell him, 'It was an honor to work with you. It was a privilege to be your friend. And you will be forever missed. And, I love you.' "

Chaplain Wayne Oglesby remembered his longtime friend.

Medlin was a fisherman, a duck hunter, a Blue Bell ice-cream junkie, and a lover of pot roast, orange Jell-O and Copenhagen snuff.

"Each night, he would put on his armor to make a difference on the street," Oglesby said. "On June 12, his physical armor couldn't save his life, but he walked into the streets of glory with his spiritual armor."

Early on Saturday, Medlin was standing beside a Ford Mustang that he had pulled over on southbound Texas 121 in Euless, near the Grapevine border, when he was struck by a Lincoln driven by a Bedford man, police said.

Medlin was thrown about 50 yards. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Lincoln's driver, Roy Alvin Adams Jr., 27, was arrested. Adams was released from the Euless City Jail after posting $50,000 bail and is expected to be charged with intoxication manslaughter, police said.

Outside the church in downtown Grapevine, officers in patrol cars and on dozens of motorcycles, some from as far away as Austin, lined Texas Street to pay their respects to their fellow police officer, a former Marine.

Austin police Sgt. Bruce Lutringer said his department tries to send officers when the funeral is within 250 to 300 miles.

"Any time you lose an officer, it impacts everybody. It makes officers think about how dangerous the job is," Lutringer said. "It can happen to anybody, no matter how safe and cautious you are."

The situation was familiar to Irving police officers, who have seen two officers killed in the last 11 years. In 1993, an officer was killed by a hit-and-run driver. On Christmas Eve in 2000, Officer Aubrey Hawkins was shot down by prison escapees.

Irving police Sgt. Bo Owings said a death in a department lingers.

"Everyone here is family, and there will be a lot of grieving in Grapevine for quite some time," he said.

A few residents sat on their porches to watch the motorcade pass, its sirens blaring and lights flashing.

Tributes to the fallen officer were all along the route to Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas, including eight tow trucks from B&B Wrecker Service of Euless lined up along Texas 360.

At the cemetery, the caravan wound along a curving road to the graveside shelter.

Dearing said more than half of the Grapevine's 94 police officers were there.

A horse-drawn carriage bore Medlin's coffin to the cemetery. Pipe Maj. Robert G. Richardson of Glasgow, Scotland, was there in full Scottish regalia to play Danny Boy on bagpipes.

Officers from the Irving Police Department delivered a rifle salute, relatives and friends sobbing as the weapons discharged.

Two Arlington police officers sounded taps.

A detail of Marines folded the flag from the coffin with white-gloved hands and presented it to Medlin's widow.

At the end, a member of the Lone Star Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America was lifted out of his wheelchair by two men who braced him and helped him walk to Medlin's widow.

She wept as John Powell, 55, of Balch Springs saluted her.

Powell met Medlin only once, in December. He had engine trouble and was stranded on Interstate 635 in Grapevine.

Powell said Medlin stopped, going out of his way to help him get the car started again. Powell never forgot.

"He didn't even know me," Powell said. "He talked to you like a regular person instead of like a police officer. He really put me at ease."

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