Jerry Ivey Park

 

 

Badge #44. Father of three; John, age 3; Anthony, age 2; and Jerry Randolph, 6 months.

Jerry Randolph Ivey was born in 1948 in Gastonia, N.C. Jerry was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas for three years. He was discharged in 1968. He became an officer with the Salina Police Department and a member of the Kansas Peace Officers Association.

Jerry Ivey Memorial Park is named in honor of Patrolman Jerry Ivey, who was shot and killed by an armed suspect near the end of his watch. Officer Ivey, just five days after his 27^th birhtday, stopped a car that was used in a robbery. The suspect sprayed Patrolman Ivey with mace and the two exchanged gunfire. As Patrolman Ivey reached for his shotgun, he was shot in the back.

The suspect was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life. Two years later he escaped from prison. While driving a stolen car that broke down, he had a family of three stop to give him aid. After putting them at gunpoint and forcing them to drive him to Bloomington, Illinois, they ended up in a Ramada Inn in Bloomington. The suspect bound and gagged the man and attempted to rape the five year-old girl. The woman got ahold of the suspect’s gun, freed her husband and the two of them beat him unconscious. The suspect went back to prison where he later died in 1984.

The memorial plaque located at the Salina County Police Department dedicated to Patrolman Jerry Ivey reads:

Officer Ivey began his career in July of 1970. On June 13, 1975

Officer Ivey stopped a car that had just been used in a robbery moments earlier. 

The two exchanged gunfire and as Officer Ivey was retrieving his shotgun, the suspect shot him in the back.

Officer Ivey left behind a wife and three children.

Jerry Ivey Memorial Park was built in 1980-1982. It is often used the sight for area officers to gather in remembrance of peace officers killed in the line of duty.

Jerry Ivey Memorial Park is located in South East Salina at Magnolia and Ohio. It has several prominent features; water playground, a gazebo commonly used for photos and a setting for a ceremony, grills and sheltered picnic areas, a multi-section playground, a pond with fountains where you often see people feeding the ducks, basketball and tennis courts and a very popular walking-jogging-biking path.

Jerry Ivey Memorial Park has so many features to offer. It is a great place to picnic, go for a jog, walk your dog, cool off in the water fountain park, feed bread to the ducks, stroll through the butterfly garden dedicated to children, sit on a bench, throw a frisbee around, swing some tennis rackets and take in the fresh air and much, much more.

Melissa Anderson | KWU Student Media