A contingent of law enforcement, Fire and EMS personnel along with others wanting to show their respect, lined the Interstate 80 overpasses/bridges in Cass and area Counties today (Tuesday), to pay respect to a Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy who died in the line of duty. A small motorcade escorted the body of 43-year old Mark Burbridge from the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny, back to Council Bluffs, where it was set to be delivered to the Hoy-Kilnoski Funeral Home.

Burbridge died and another deputy was injured when a prisoner escaped from transport to the Pott. County Jail, late Monday morning. The prisoner, who was shackled, somehow got ahold of a weapon and shot both men before crashing the transport van through a garage door and escaping. He was finally caught in Omaha after a police pursuit.

The motorcade with Deputy Burbridge passed by the Olive Street overpass to I-80 at around 2:15-p.m., as personnel with Atlantic Fire, Medivac Ambulance, the Iowa State Patrol, Motor Vehicle Enforcement and a crew from Richter and Sons Towing stood watch.

Ric Hanson photos

A large American flag was hoisted into the air by the Atlantic Fire Department’s ladder truck, known as a Quint. Motorists passing by prior to the arrival of the motorcade, honked their horns in support, but when the contingent passed by, there was a gentle breeze…and only silence.