A 24-year-old Arkansas police officer proposed to the woman he loved just hours before he died trying to save her from a powerful river current.
Officer Fred Marsh of the Rogers Police Department had asked his girlfriend, Hailey, to marry him on Saturday morning before the couple joined friends for a canoeing trip on Missouri’s Elk River.
“He proposed to my daughter on the day he passed away, early that morning, and he made her his fiancée,” Hailey’s mother, Sheryl Padgett, told 40/29.
What began as a day of celebration turned tragic when Hailey got into the river and started struggling in the swift-moving water.
Marsh and another Rogers police officer rushed in after her and were able to get her to safety. Moments later, however, Marsh was carried away by the current and did not resurface.
Marsh and Hailey had been together for three years.
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Padgett said she had grown close to Marsh, explaining that the two had connected through painful personal losses they had both endured.
“I lost my only son, four years ago, to a fatal accident in my hometown so we instantly made a connection and a bond. I called him son, and he called me mama,” she also added.
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On Monday, a motorcade carrying Marsh’s body traveled through Northwest Arkansas as members of the community lined the route to pay tribute to the fallen officer.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Marsh’s family, who expect a large turnout of officers, former classmates and childhood friends from across the state, according to Padgett.
Marsh graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in April and was serving his first year with the RPD.
He also played college baseball at Eccelsia College, where one of his teammates described him as a “God-fearing man” and a teammate that was “there for everybody.”
A GoFundMe has been created by Hailey’s sister to support her through the loss of her fiancé.
“Due to this sudden loss, it has left Hailey in overwhelming need. With a new lease, bills, and more unforseen expenses, it is now left all on her shoulders,” the sister wrote.
