BLUFFTON, Ohio — A fallen Bluffton police officer is being remembered with a national memorial.
During what's known as a 'rolling memorial,' a truck with a specially designed trailer rolls through the country every other summer to honor fallen police officers.
The "End of Watch Ride to Remember" is held every other year by an organization known as Beyond the Call of Duty.
It will be held this year to honor the 245 police officers who died in the U.S. in 2022 and the 135 officers who died in 2023.
They will all have a picture on the rolling memorial as it travels to every town that has experienced a loss.
One of those towns is our very own Bluffton, where Officer Dominic Francis gave the ultimate Sacrifice.
The 42-year-old was killed while on duty after attempting to place stop strips on the interstate during a high-speed chase in Marion County.
Officer Francis was hit and killed by the suspect's vehicle around 2:30 a.m. on March 31, 2022.
He leaves behind a hero's legacy for his two children his wife Ricki Francis and, as an active member of his community, officers tell me Dominic Francis will always be remembered by the Bluffton community.
"He was a great officer an asset to the department and the community and the surrounding communities. He was one of those officers that if he wasn't working here, he was out helping somewhere in the community with something," said Lieutenant Matt Oglesbee with the Bluffton Police Department.
Lt. Oglesbee said it's hard on every officer when they lose one of their own. He believes the rolling memorial is just another tool to help them come together to heal.
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He also said it serves as a reminder to other departments that they are not mourning alone.
"The amount of support that we've had from the community here in Bluffton across the state and the nation over the last couple of year has just been unbelievable and its reassuring to know that there's support out there for us and to see people rally around us and Dom's family in our time of need it was tremendous the outpouring," said Lt. Oglesbee.
The End of Watch Ride to Remember will be here in the Toledo area on Saturday, July 13. You can join the memorial between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., at Bluffton Dairy Freeze on South Main Street.
Funeral service for Dominic Francis below: