Published on Friday, July 13, 2007
in the First Coast News

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL -- The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office honored three men Friday who did not even work for the agency.

However, they died in the line of duty while assisting deputies.

CPL C.L. Tomlinson, Robert Pruitt, and Merle Cooke were all Florida Highway Patrol Troopers. On July 13, 1981, they were in a plane guiding deputies to the whereabouts of a burglary suspect on the run. The plane crashed in St. Augustine, and all three troopers died.

Friday, Sheriff Shoar added the three names to the memorial plaque in the front of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. The three names are next to the names of others who have died in the line of duty.

"These guys died directly assisting us," said Sheriff Shoar. "They were looking for a suspect we were chasing. We wanted to make sure they feel, and I feel, they belong as part of our memorial."

Twenty-six years to the day of the crash, family members of the three men and fellow FHP troopers joined deputies and Shoar in the memorial ceremony.