Duty Death: Joshua Yazzie - [United States Department of the Interior ]
By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY -- A Bureau of Indian Affairs officer who died in a car wreck while on duty Monday was “a fine officer who was absolutely committed to the people of the Ute Tribe,” said Agent John D. Wright, who oversees Indian Country investigations in Utah for the FBI.
Wright said Joshua Yazzie “lived his life serving others.”
Yazzie, 33, lost control of his patrol car while he was driving to help an ambulance crew with an intoxicated person who had begun to act violently. The car went over a 200-foot embankment near the Bottle Hollow Reservoir on the Ute Indian Reservation in Uintah County. Yazzie died at the scene.
His funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the Roosevelt East LDS stake center, 600 E. 500 North in Roosevelt.
Yazzie is the 10th law enforcement officer to die in a single-vehicle car wreck, according to data from the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial.
He is the 132nd officer to die in the line of duty in Utah. Alt Heads:
Indian Affairs officer lived to serve, his boss says
Bureau of Indian Affairs officer Joshua Yazzie
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