Iron County Sheriff David "Dude" Benson still laughs when he thinks about the time deputy Edward Norman Dare pulled him over.
It was Monday, one day before Dare, 57, was killed when his patrol car flipped over a canal west of the Cedar City airport, killing the five-year deputy.
Benson was riding in a sheriff vehicle Monday when he saw the red lights from Dare's patrol car and wondered what was going on. The sheriff pulled off to the right shoulder and waited.
"He came up to the window and said, 'Hey, I just wanted to see what you'd do,' " Benson said. Then there was the time Dare pulled over a retired lieutenant from a police agency in Southern California. The lieutenant was furious and dryly asked Dare whether there was a monthly quota of tickets deputies needed to write in Iron County.
"Deputy Dare said, 'No. I write all the tickets I want.' He said, 'In fact, this ticket puts me in running for a new toaster oven. Then I'll get a blender,' " Benson said.
That's how Dare's colleagues say he'll be remembered. Dare is the first Iron County officer in recent memory to die in the line of duty.
"Ed was a great big 12-year-old kid. He was a great deputy. There was no one I worked with who had more fun on the job than him," Benson said.
Dare's playful side was also matched by an intense focus on his job.
"Boy when he was working, there was no question he was working. You could here him on the radio, you could hear him in the office," Benson said.
That same focus led Dare to rush to assist officers Tuesday at approximately 6:17 a.m. after Cedar City dispatchers reported a drunk driver brandishing a handgun. Dare radioed in and reported he was on his way to assist officers from the area of 1600 N. Lund Highway. That was the last time anyone heard from him.
Dare was speeding down a dirt road when he took a corner too fast, said Utah Highway Patrol Maj. Neil Porter, whose agency is investigating the crash.
"It appears that the road out there takes a hard left — he failed to negotiate the curve," Porter said. "We believe he was traveling in excess of the posted speed limit but you have to remember he's after a man that's brandishing a firearm. Those are the kinds of calls that we hurry to because of the public threat."
Dare's Chevrolet Impala vaulted across a canal on the side of the road and hit a berm on the other side of the canal, causing the car to flip, Porter said. It appears Dare was not wearing a seat belt, Porter said.
When it was determined Dare was missing, most of the 23 deputies in Iron County helped search for him. It wasn't until nearly two hours later, at approximately 8 a.m., that nearby construction workers reported a wrecked police car lying in a wash nearly out of sight, Porter said.
"People had been driving by on that road for two hours and hadn't noticed him," Porter said. "The car apparently landed at such a position that it wasn't obvious."
Police and medical crews responded to the crash but Dare was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sadly, police later determined the report of the gun-toting drunk driver was unfounded.
"There's no question he died in the line of duty and we plan on honoring him as such," Benson said.
Dare is survived by his wife, Cyndi.
A stress management team that specializes in traumatic police situations is expected to work with sheriff's officers this week. "We want to give deputies and their families and anybody associated with the incident the opportunity to help them through the grieving process," Benson said.
E-MAIL: djensen@desnews.com; lhancock@desnews.com