Ride to Remember Tour Ends with Stop in Paxton, Honoring Congressman Norton

PAXTON — The End of Watch Ride to Remember — an annual motorcycle ride in memory of fallen police officers — will stop at the Ford County Sheriff’s Office at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, in honor of the late Brian J. Norton, a Ford County Sheriff’s Deputy who died at age 45 in February 2022 from complications of COVID-19.

The journey involves a group of Washington bikers traveling across the country in a 40-foot trailer, from the West Coast to the East Coast, to honor fallen police officers. Beginning June 1, the riders began a 22,000-mile, 73-day journey this year that will honor 259 officers from 234 police departments killed in the line of duty in 2022 and 2023, according to a press release from the event’s nonprofit organizer, Beyond the Call of Duty.

Longtime Sheriff’s Office Administrative Assistant Barb King encouraged the public to stop by the Sheriff’s Office at 235 N. American St. in Paxton to view the 40-foot trailer and motorcade as they honor Mr. Norton, who worked the night shift as a Ford County Sheriff’s Deputy from July 31, 2019 until his untimely death on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, and was also a part-time Paxton patrol officer.

“We appreciate the organization honoring our fallen heroes, and I thought the citizens of Ford County might be interested in stopping by that morning to view the 40-foot trailer with photos of the 2022-2023 officers lost in the line of duty,” King said in an email. “They will only be at the sheriff’s office for about an hour and a half before leaving.”

The Ford County stop will be day 69 of the 73-day trip, which began with stops at the Everett and Bellevue police departments and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office in Washington and ends Monday, Aug. 12, with stops at the Post Falls Police Department in Idaho and Lone Wolf Harley in Spokane, Washington.

On August 8, the hike will also stop at the Chicago Police Department/FOP Lodge 7 and the Milwaukee Police Department. On August 7, the sheriff’s offices in Knox, Ottawa and Will counties will be visited.

The trail’s founder, Jagrut Shah, a former deputy sheriff, said the trail was intended to show support for the services and the victims’ families.

“I wanted to bridge that gap that we have and give back to the departments and let the surviving officers and their families know that their loss has not been forgotten,” Shah said in the Beyond the Call of Duty press release.

In 2022, the ride honored an unprecedented 611 officers killed in the line of duty in 2021, covering 21,000 miles over 79 days. In 2021, the ride lasted 84 days and covered 22,300 miles and honored 339 officers killed in 2020, while the 2020 edition covered 18,000 miles in honor of 146 officers killed in 2019.

In late September 2021, Mr. Norton became ill with COVID-19 and was required to take medical leave. He was taken to hospital on October 4, 2021, and remained there until his death on February 5, 2022.

According to Beyond the Call of Duty, Mr. Norton contracted COVID-19 while arresting a COVID-19 positive individual for aggravated assault, aggravated intimidation, resisting a peace officer, obstruction of justice and obstruction of service of civil process.

Mr. Norton was described by former Ford County Sheriff Mark Doran as a gentle, friendly man who was well-liked by his colleagues and who always demonstrated professionalism and a work ethic that was virtually unmatched.

“He was definitely what a deputy sheriff should be,” Doran said in February 2022. “If you want to emulate someone in this field, I would say the path he took is what we should all strive to be.”

Prior to being hired by the Sheriff’s Office to work the night shift, Mr. Norton worked as a police officer in Paxton, Gilman, Onarga and Rossville. Mr. Norton began his law enforcement career in 2009 with the Rossville Police Department. He began working part-time for the Paxton Police Department in October 2011 and was hired full-time in June 2013 before resigning in April 2015. He was then rehired part-time on November 15, 2018, until the end of his shift.

“I call Brian a ‘warrior for humanity,’” Doran said after Norton’s death, “and that’s really what we all try to be (as police officers). … With his passing, I know we now have a great advocate for law enforcement (in heaven), and he can watch over us and take care of us. It’s good to know you have an ally up there, and I think we all gained a good ally. We lost a good ally, and he’s going to be greatly missed.”