OREM, Utah, May 13, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — The life of Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser was celebrated Monday with a funeral procession and warm, sincere tributes to the way he lived his life, raised his family, inspired the law enforcement crews around him, and served his community.
Hooser, age 50, died in service on May 5 after confronting a semi driver said to be holding a woman against her will. The driver, identified as Michael Aaron Jayne, reportedly drove away from a traffic stop made by Hooser and a Utah Highway Patrol officer. He then made a U-turn, speeding toward the trooper, the woman who was rescued, and Hooser, who was caught between the truck’s grill and the trooper’s car. Hooser died at the scene.
Hooser was a husband, father of two daughters and grandfather to one, a father-in-law to one officer, with another engaged to his daughter, and an inspiration to those who served with him and trained under him, officials said at Monday’s ceremony.
Hooser’s daughters remembered him as a loving and engaged “girl dad.” Santaquin Police Chief Rod Hurst and others who worked with Hooser knew him as both a strict taskmaster, to ensure the safety of those he trained, and a loyal and enthusiastic friend to all who got to know him.
Gov. Spencer Cox spoke about how Hooser chose law enforcement later in life, as an adult who found himself inspired by volunteer law enforcement work he did in New Mexico. Hooser joined the Santaquin Police Department just eight years ago and was promoted to sergeant in February.
Cox said Hooser made that career change because he had found his calling in serving others and helping to build his community.
Cox said he talked to Kinda Hooser, Bill’s widow, about her family’s and husband’s feeling that he had been “called to something bigger than himself.”
It wasn’t about building his own life, Cox said, “it was about serving. It was about giving back to a community. It was about serving and protecting, and about making the world a safer place, a better place for his amazing daughters and his wife and for all of us.”
Cox said Kinda Hooser talked with him about loss and grief and their mutually held belief in an afterlife, “that this is not the end, that there is something after this, and that our loved ones are not far from us, and that we get to see them again.”
Cox also talked about other people he said were heroes on the day, including the UHP trooper who also faced Jayne to help save the woman he had held captive, but who managed to escape with his life.
Cox also mentioned two officers who heard the code blue alert, indicating a fallen officer and a dangerous fugitive on the run, and they spotted Jayne as he sped toward the Vernal area. Those officers and others joined in performing a dangerous pit maneuver and taking Jayne into custody.
“I share that because there are heroes all amongst us every day doing this kind of work,” Cox said. “This thin blue line. The thin blue line is real. (It is ) the line between order and chaos. It is the line between good and evil. And everyday, those of you who wear the badge step into that breach, into that line, and we take it for granted every day. And I pray that today will be a reminder to every one of us to not take it for granted.”
Another officer closed the service with words he directed to Hooser.
“Rest easy, Sgt. Hooser. We have your back, and we’ll take it from here.”
