Flags to fly at half-staff for fallen trooper

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Flags will be flown at half-staff on all Missouri state buildings to honor a fallen state trooper.

Gov. Jay Nixon issued the order Monday to honor 49-year-old Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard of St. Louis. He died Christmas Day after being struck while working an accident on icy Interstate 44 southwest of St. Louis.

The flags will fly at half-staff Wednesday, the day of Engelhard's funeral in Brookfield.

A 2 p.m. service at Park Baptist Church Fellowship Building follows visitation Tuesday at Wright-Baker-Hill Funeral Home, also in Brookfield.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society or Christ Church Cathedral, through the funeral home.

Nixon also ordered that flags at all Highway Patrol offices be flown at half-staff beginning immediately and through Wednesday.

Engelhard joined the patrol in March 2000 and was promoted to corporal in 2006. He earlier served as a paramedic in Kirksville and a paramedic and flight paramedic in Springfield.