Law enforcement agencies in Iowa are joining those across the nation this week to honor fallen comrades and in the Waterloo area they’ll remember two cops who were killed 25 years ago in a case that drew statewide attention.
Black Hawk County peace officers will gather today (Tuesday) in Evansdale for a memorial service to honor 11 area officers who’ve been killed in the line of duty over the years, including the two Waterloo cops who were shot and killed by James “T-Bone” Taylor in 1981.
There was a huge, week-long manhunt for Taylor and Evansdale Police Chief Michael Burke remembers it well. Burke says there are still some officers on-duty in the area who arrived at the scene of the cops’ slaying and others who participated in the manhunt. He says each officer will have a distinct memory of the manhunt.
Chief Burke still has strong feelings about the case. “I was on that particular manhunt. I can remember it like it was yesterday,” Burke says. “I think it’s all too important that officers who have made this ultimate sacrifice are not forgotten, that we do remember them every year and remember the families that also suffered those losses.”
Burke will read the names of the two officers Taylor killed, as well as the nine others from Black Hawk County who’ve died in uniform. Burke calls it a “time out” to remember the service and sacrifice of the fallen officers. Waterloo cops Michael Wayne Hoing and Wayne Rice were killed by “T-Bone” Taylor on July 13th, 1981. This is National Police Memorial Week. One-hundred-32 Iowa lawmen have died in the line of duty since Iowa became a state.