NEW BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The New Bloomfield Board of Aldermen retired the badge number that belonged to former New Bloomfield police officer Michael Tufts.
Tufts, 25, died in late August. He had been in a coma as a result of a 2012 drunken driving accident in which a Columbia man's vehicle hit Tufts' Ford F-150. Two others were in the vehicle with Tufts. One was killed in the accident, and the other was injured. Tufts was taken to University Hospital after the crash in critical condition.
The Columbia man, Spencer Gordon, was arrested for manslaughter and driving while intoxicated and in June was found guilty of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault.
Tufts worked for the New Bloomfield Police Department for four months before the crash.