McKenzie honors historic lawman killed in line of duty

McKENZIE, Tenn. — It’s a recognition more than 100 years in the making.

“When an officer is slain in the line of duty, they need to be remembered,” McKenzie police Chief Craig Moates said.

The McKenzie Police Department is making sure that happens. A.D. Bryant served as city marshal in McKenzie five to six times during his career.

“When Mr. Bryant had gone to eat his lunch at the train depot, the person he had arrested earlier came back and ambushed him in the depot and killed him,” Chief Moates said.

Almost 100 years after his death, the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial was enacted in Washington, D.C., but Bryant’s name wasn’t on the list.

“We were notified by an officer in Wyoming who was doing his own research about officer there,” Moates said.

After a couple weeks of research and then sending that data to D.C., McKenzie police got the confirmation that Bryant’s name would be added to the memorial.

They remembered Bryant on Monday with a service and flowers next to his grave.

And since it’s National Police Week, Moates says this couldn’t have come at a better time.

Bryant’s name will be read at a national candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. Monday in Washington, D.C.

The monument currently has more than 21,000 names of officers killed in the line of duty.