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RICHFIELD — One of the most popular deputies at the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office is being remembered with a new memorial dedicated to his service.
"It's our own little thing,” Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis said. “It's a little bit different than everybody else's, but it's the way our officers wanted to remember him."
The memorial is for Sevier County Sheriff's Sgt. Franco Aguilar, who was killed April 29, 2010, while helping a motorist on I-70 who lost control on the Fish Creek bridge. While he was outside, another driver was going too fast for the icy conditions, lost control, hit Aguilar and sent him some 250 feet down off the bridge to his death.
“(Aguilar) was just so well loved, just not only with all the surrounding police agencies and all law enforcement, but out in the community as well,” Sevier County Sheriff’s Lt. Sean Robbins said.
This memorial will help make sure Aguilar is always remembered.
"The neat thing about this monument is that it was designed by the deputies,” Curtis explained. “They did all the labor, the whole thing. They spent the time out here mixing the concrete by hand. They did the whole thing."
On the monument are the words “All give some, some give all,” and the date of the end of watch: 4-29-2010. There’s a light on the top that is on 24 hours a day. There is also a chunk of rebar embedded in the concrete monument from the bridge where Aguilar died.
Aguilar’s family was touched by the monument. “They were just overwhelmed by the effect and that we would do something like this,” Curtis said.
It's that brotherhood of law enforcement, that family, which keeps them all close no matter what.
"You still hear the guys talking about ... 'Remember when Franco did this? And the joke he played on them.' It's kind of something that they still have," Curtis said. And something they will never forget.
As for the man who hit him, Corbin Mander of Saratoga Springs, he is now out of jail. He pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and was sentenced to a month behind bars. He still has 18 months of probation and will have to speak at 30 high schools to students about the dangers of negligent driving.
Email:acabrero@ksl.com
