DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP) - A 25-year-old Missouri Highway Patrol trooper killed last week when his cruiser crashed while pursuing a motorcyclist was eulogized Friday as a gifted athlete and focused, budding law enforcer guided by fierce spirituality.
Hundreds of mourners who packed Dardenne Presbyterian Church for James Bava's services in Dardenne Prairie, west of St. Louis, included Gov. Jay Nixon and dozens of fellow state troopers and dispatchers, many wiping away tears over the man who had been engaged to be married to his college sweetheart.
The patrol has said Bava observed a speeding motorcyclist on a notoriously treacherous stretch of road in northeast Missouri's Audrain County when Bava gave chase and crashed on a hill. Patrol Sgt. Doug McPike, who worked with Bava, told mourners Friday the motorcyclist has been identified, though the investigation continues and no charges have been filed.
Eulogists who took to the podium behind Bava's closed casket, draped by the Missouri state flag, described him as a loving law enforcer: A two-year trooper known to some friends as "Captain America" - his favorite superhero - and who often patrolled with a stuffed monkey ready for any traumatized child he happened upon.
Bava's parents, in a testimonial read by a pastor, cast their son as tender-hearted and sensitive, but "most importantly he was a man of faith." Joshua Bava of the O'Fallon police force told mourners his late younger brother was his best friend and hero who "excelled at everything he did," including as a starting pitcher in select baseball leagues.
"Everything came very naturally to him," though he never bragged, Joshua Bava said.
Twice during the past year, James Bava was dispatched to Ferguson with other state troopers to help keep the peace at the governor's request days after the August 2014 police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown plunged the St. Louis suburb into racial unrest that included looting and arson fires. Friday's funeral speakers said Bava never groused about that.
Nixon, who had ordered flags statewide to fly at half-staff Friday in Bava's memory, said Bava's death underscores that "danger and death lurk at every turn" in law enforcement, and "it takes uncommon courage to put your life on the line."
"There is no such thing as a routine call. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop," Nixon said. "Anything can happen in a heartbeat."