OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Overland Park Police Officer Mike Mosher died in a shootout with a suspect in a hit and run Sunday, March 3. Because of the coronavirus, hundreds of people drove through the Overland Park Convention Center parking lot on Tuesday in the city’s first ever drive-thru visitation of that magnitude.
For three hours, car after car drove by the casket of Overland Park Police Officer Mike Mosher, taking a brief moment to pay their respects. There were dozens of police cruisers from around the state, fire trucks and ambulances. Some people, like Mary Conwell, never met Mosher but knew the impact he had on the Metro.
“They are a terrific family. I don’t know them personally, but I mean the daughter, I heard them on TV, and it was amazing,” Conwell said.
Overland Park Fire provided interviews filmed with Mosher’s family, who stood by his casket as every car went by, sometimes giving a brief embrace.
“He always wanted to help people no matter where or how and I just felt like being a police officer that was the job description helping people being there,” his daughter, Tyler said.
“He cared about us, he cared about the community, he cared about his police officers, but he put that caring into action,” his wife, Corrine Mosher, said.
That helping spirit led Mosher to pursue a hit-and-run driver which resulted in his final hours.
A Patriot Guard rider who traveled from Manhattan, Kansas to stand at attention next to the American flag throughout the visitation understood Mosher’s final selfless act.
“It’s an oath that in law enforcement and even in the military we all take. You are on the job 24-7, and it’s just kind of in our blood that you do what you have to do when something’s wrong,” Alan Zeitvogel said.
Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez said delivering the news of Mosher’s death to the family was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. But in the OPFD interview he said their strength has helped him through his own grieving process.
“To be able to do what you love doing is probably the best way to go out of this world, is doing what you love and serving those that are important to you,” Chief Donchez said.
Funeral services for Officer Mosher will be held at the same location Wednesday at 10 a.m. In order to allow for social distancing, the physical space of the funeral is open only to family, friends and members of the Overland Park Police Department. A walking funeral procession will include a riderless horse, glass case hearse, honor guard, and bagpipers. The funeral procession is open to the public.
Mosher will be laid to rest at Johnson County Memorial Gardens in a private ceremony.
