An Anamosa police officer was killed in a crash this weekend.
Forty-year old Mitchell Kelchen of Bellevue died when the SUV he was riding in was struck head-on by a mini-van. The accident happened Saturday morning around 7:30 a.m. on Highway 62 in Jackson County.
The Iowa State Patrol says Kelchen’s wife, 40-year old Tina Kelchen, was driving their SUV southbound when the northbound mini-van, driven by 60-year old Marjorie Hendrickson of Bellevue, crossed the centerline and struck them head-on. Officer Kelchen was killed. Tina Kelchen and Hendrickson were both injured and airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Kelchen had been with the Anamosa Police Department for about a year, having served with the Dyersville Police Department prior to that. Kelchen was a 1994 graduate of Western Dubuque High School. Numerous law enforcement agencies across the state have expressed their sympathy. The Anamosa Police Department posted a Facebook photo Saturday of a police squad vehicle with a blue stripe on the windshield parked in front of the police station, where the community has been laying flowers in honor of their fallen officer.
(Reporting by Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester)