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Deputy remembered for faith, family, service

The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 5 months AGO
by The Associated Press
| August 22, 2014 8:10 PM

 GREAT FALLS (AP) — Mourners remembered a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Cascade County sheriff’s deputy who was killed in a police chase last week as a man who put faith, family and service first.

Joe Dunn was buried Thursday after a memorial service attended by hundreds of law-enforcement officers from across the state and as far away as North Dakota and Idaho.

“He gave the community his all,” his widow, Robynn Dunn, told those assembled at Four Seasons Arena. “He gave us even more.”

Deputy Jason Boyd, a friend of the 33-year old deputy, said Dunn came to work full of stories about his young children, Joey and Shiloh.

“I could see the love your father had for you with each story,” Boyd said.

Dunn was killed Aug. 14 when he was struck by a car during a police chase east of Great Falls. Before Thursday’s memorial service, Adam Sanchez Jr. appeared in court on a charge of deliberate homicide in the deputy’s death.

Prosecutors say Sanchez was high on methamphetamines and deliberately swerved to strike Dunn. Sanchez did not enter a plea, and he was being held on a $5 million bond.

Sanchez’s mother, Susan Sanchez said she had seen her son hours before the chase and she did not believe that he was impaired by drugs.

“He wasn’t high,” she said. “This time he was not using drugs.”

Dunn joined the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office in 2012 after serving in the Marines and as a civilian contractor in Iraq. He had also worked for the county detention center in Missoula, his hometown.

More than 230 law-enforcement vehicles took part in a procession following the service, the Great Falls Tribune reported.

Dunn was buried in Highland Cemetery, where he was honored with a 21-gun salute. A message broadcast over the county radio dispatch system announced his end of watch.

“Rest in peace. We’ll take it from here,” it called.

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