From The Vault: Police Officer Mike Partin dies in fall off Ohio River bridge

When a police officer or firefighter dies, his colleagues and the community grieve along with his family. In the case of young Covington police officer Mike Partin, their grief and anxiety were compounded by the bizarre circumstances of his death and five months of searching and waiting for his body to be found. Officer Mike Partin Partin, 25, fell off an Ohio River bridge to his death while trying to help another officer capture a DUI suspect. It happened on Jan. 4, 1998 on the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge between downtown Cincinnati and Covington, Kentucky. Partin, recently married and only 15 months on the job, answered a call for assistance from Kenton County officer Brian Kane. At 2 a.m., Kane had pulled over a driver at the foot of the bridge on West 4th Street in Covington. The driver ran onto the walkway on the side of the bridge and Kane radioed that he was chasing him. Partin drove onto the bridge past the two men, stopped, and started running toward them. Kane had caught the suspect on the walkway and the man was resisting.