Three funerals in three days for Eastern Ky. town. ‘Some wounds you never get over.’

A small town in Eastern Kentucky continued the numbing task Wednesday of burying three police officers over three days.

The funeral for Ralph Frasure, a captain with the Prestonsburg Police Department, was held at the Mountain Arts Center. Services for Floyd County Deputy William Petry were at the center on Tuesday, and the service for Jacob Chaffins, an officer with the Prestonsburg department, is scheduled for Thursday.

The three were shot to death when a man accused of assaulting a woman ambushed them as they arrived to serve an emergency protective order on him. The deaths of three officers in one incident has been hard for the county of 37,000, said Judge-Executive Robbie Williams.

Petry and Frasure died the day of the confrontation on June 30, and Chaffins died the next day.

”This is something we hope we never see again in our lifetime,” Williams said.

The three officers were well-known.

Frasure had been a police officer in the community for 39 years, first with the city of Martin and then with the officer with the sheriff’s office and the Prestonsburg department, and also served as a resource officer at Prestonsburg High School.

”We all know each other,” Williams said. “Some wounds you never get over. You just have to learn to live with them. This may be one of them.”

At Frasure’s funeral, Prestonsburg Mayor Les Stapleton and police Chief Randy Woods said Frasure was a dedicated police officer and a mentor to younger officers, but they also remembered his sense of humor.

Stapleton described Frasure as an “instigator, and Woods said he loved to play pranks such as putting pepper spray in another officer’s coffee,

“He loved, loved to have fun, and he wanted to know we all had smiles on our faces as well,” Woods said. “He lit up every room he went in.”

Stapleton offered to pay Frasure overtime for going to sporting events at the high school after hours, but Frasure declined, saying he just wanted to check see the kids.

Stapleton said he met Frasure in the mid-1980s when Stapleton was with the state police, at a time when there were often few officers on duty at times. Frasure was always quick to come to the aid of other officers and never hesitated, even in a potentially dangerous situation, Stapleton said.

“That was Ralph’s trademark,” Stapleton said. “He didn’t back down.”

The day the officers were ambushed, Frasure was advised not to get too close to the scene as the bullets continued to fly, but he went in anyway to help other officers, Woods said.

“Nothing was going to hold him back,” Woods said. ““Ralph’s life made a difference. He’ll always be remembered as a hero.”

Frasure is survived by his wife, Clearnce, a daughter and two sons, and four grandchildren.

Hundreds of residents and police officers attended the funeral.

Following the funeral, the service for Frasure at the cemetery featured the mournful pageantry of last rites for a police officer killed in the line of duty.

Bagpipers led the way, the rattle of the drum echoing off the hill surrounding the cemetery, and his casket was atop a horse-drawn carriage, escorted by by mounted riders from the Lexington Police Department and other police officers.

Members of an honor guard held up the American flag that had covered the casket as seven Kentucky State Police officers fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played Taps, then carefully folded the flag to present to Frasure’s widow.

Mist blankented the hills around the cemetery as a dispatcher made the traditional final radio calls for Frasure, Unit 504, then said he was at home for the final time.

“Rest in peace brother, we have it from here,” the dispatcher said.

Lance Storz, 49, allegedly opened fire without warning on Petry and other police officers as soon as they got out of their cars outside his house in Allen, a small town near Prestonsburg.

A woman reported that Storz assaulted her, held her against her will and raped her. Police had taken her and her young daughter to safety before going to serve the domestic-violence order against Storz.

Several other people, including police officers, a constable and the county’s emergency manager, were wounded.