Ricki Francis (front left) embraces Chad Cupples after the unveiling of an interstate marker dedicated to her late husband Dominic Francis.
Photos by Mackenzi Klemann | The Lima News
BLUFFTON — The mood inside Bluffton Town Hall was somber Friday as the wife of the late Dominic Francis unveiled a highway marker dedicating a portion of Interstate 75 to the fallen Bluffton officer who was struck and killed by a motorist last spring on I-75.
“He would want none of this, because he never did any of it for the honor and glory,” wife Ricki Francis said after Friday’s ceremony, “but he absolutely deserves everything that we’re doing for him.”
Ricki Francis tearfully removed a sheet which had been covering the highway marker named for her late husband, months after Ohio lawmakers formally dedicated a portion of I-75 in Allen and Hancock counties as Officer Dominic Francis Memorial Highway.
Friday’s service drew dozens of spectators, including Francis’s high school friends, family members and colleagues from the Bluffton Police Department and nearby law enforcement agencies.
“The dedication to Officer Francis Memorial Highway will always be a reminder of him, the ultimate sacrifice for safety and security of others,” Bluffton Police Chief Ryan Burkholder said Friday. “Dominic will never be forgotten, and his name will stand the test of time and remain a piece of Ohio history.”
Francis, a nine-year veteran of the Bluffton Police Department, died last March while placing “stop sticks” on the interstate to bring an end to a high-speed pursuit that reportedly reached 120 mph.
Twenty-one-year-old Emin Johnson of Euclid, identified as the driver of the stolen vehicle that fatally struck Francis near the state Route 103 north exit north of Bluffton, pleaded guilty in March for his role in the pursuit and was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years for involuntary manslaughter and associated charges.
Dante Tate, one of two passengers who were in the vehicle with Johnson, pleaded guilty to lesser charges last August and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, while the third occupant, Zachary Love, has yet to stand trial.
The court hearings have prolonged the grieving process for Ricki Francis, whose years of work as a paramedic and firefighter prepared her to withstand the attention.
“Every court hearing, court appearance, every memorial pulls the band-aid back a little bit,” she said. But for now, “it’s about honoring him and taking care of him,” Francis said. “I want everyone to know what a wonderful person he was, inside and out.”
