Badge 115 Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(small)
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FTF prize campers whistle awaits.
Rice County Sheriff’s Deputy John Liebenstein, 40, was killed in the line of duty on Friday, May 3, 1996. On that day around noon, a 17 year-old stole a vehicle at a flea market in Prior Lake, MN. The owner had left the keys on the front seat. When the car owner called to report the car stolen, he was told officers were already following it. Two Scott County deputies had tried to stop the vehicle but the suspect hit one of the squad cars and then led police on a 40 mile chase in the stolen car.
The car thief drove the car East through Savage and into Burnsville where he hit a car. At 12:57 PM the car went south onto I-35 in Burnsville. Four minutes later, Rice County was called to assist. Deputy John Liebenstein was at home on his lunch break two miles from the freeway when he heard the call. Fifteen minutes later the stolen car exited I-35 at Rice CR 1, four miles West of Dundas. Deputy Liebenstein had positioned his squad car at the top of the ramp cross wise on the road. The stolen vehicle rammed the squad on the passenger side and pushed it into a shallow ravine. The stolen vehicle was estimated to be traveling at a velocity exceeding 90 MPH when it struck the squad car. Deputy Liebenstein died at the scene at the age of 40.
The car thief, Timothy Patrick Chambers, who had a long criminal record had serious, but not life threatening injuries. Months previous to this car theft and after another car theft, he was known to have said that he “ …would ram a police officer off the road if he had to or that he would have no problem taking a police officer out if he had to.” Chambers is presently serving his sentence at Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility with an anticipated release date of 2096.
You will see a memorial cross at GZ as well as a tree that was planted in John’s memory.
As you are at GZ think about how far from the southbound off ramp you are. This was a significant distance from the impact point!
Pause for a moment and say a prayer for all of our Law Officers who are in harms way often protecting society from all forms of criminals.
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