Darrell King, Big Horn County Sherriff killed in traffic accident

LAME DEER, MT. – The entire Northern Cheyenne Reservation and Big Horn County are in shock. Early Sunday evening, November 19, Darrell King, Northern Cheyenne and elected Sheriff of Big Horn County, MT was killed in a head on collision with a semi-truck.

At the date of this report, there are still many unanswered questions about the fatal accident.

According to Facebook and major media accounts it happened in the early evening hours just a few miles from Crow Agency, a route that King traveled on a regular basis to and from work.

As a result, Highway 212 was closed until about ten p.m. as emergency personnel responded to the scene.

King had been in law enforcement for many years, graduating from the Police Academy in 1989. He then served as a tribal, BIA and city law enforcement. Big Horn County includes the southern portion of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and the entirety of the Crow Reservation.

Highway 212 is a State two lane route beginning at Crow Agency and continuing to Belle Fouche, South Dakota. A shortcut for many trucker destinations, it is heavily traveled by semi-trucks. A recent tribal safety count numbered the daily average truck traffic on this route as over 600. Truckers pass through both the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations and directly through Busby, Lame Deer and Ashland on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. This has long posed public safety concerns to local travelers who utilize that road. There have been numerous fatalities over the years between local drivers and truckers.

“He was a good officer who saved my life one time by giving me my first and last DUI when I was a youngster,” commented one Northern Cheyenne tribal member, Gayleen Ryan.

Out of respect for Sherriff King and his family, several public Thanksgiving Day events which were scheduled have been postponed.

As more information becomes available, NSNT will follow up on this shocking mishap.

(Clara Caufield can be reached at 2ndcheyennevoice@gmail.com.)

 

The post Darrell King, Big Horn County Sherriff killed in traffic accident first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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