Chowan County Sheriff's Office, North Carolina
End of Watch: Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Age: 36
Tour of Duty: 1 year, 3 months
Badge Number: 286
Cause of Death: Aircraft accident
Date of Incident: July 17, 2002
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy Richard Ashley, Sergeant Anthony Futrell of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and Major Robert Kennedy of the Boone Police Department, were killed in an airplane accident while searching for marijuana crops in Chowan County at 3:30 pm.
Approximately 90 minutes into the second flight of the day, the Cessna 172-S experienced problems and crashed. Witnesses on the ground heard the engine sputter and saw the plane nose dive into the ground. There were no radio messages from the pilots indicating any problems.
Sergeant Futrell and Major Kennedy, both members of the Civil Air Patrol, were piloting the aircraft and acting as spotters. Deputy Ashley was directing ground units to locations spotted during the flight for further investigation.
Deputy Ashley had been employed with the Chowan County Sheriff's Office for only 16 months, and is survived by his wife and two teenage sons. He lived less then one mile from the crash site.