Iowa State Patrol, Iowa
End of Watch: Friday, June 30, 1989
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 1 year
Badge Number: 190
Cause of Death: Aircraft accident
Date of Incident: June 30, 1989
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Trooper Stanley Gerling and Trooper Pilot Lance Dietsch were killed in an airplane crash while searching for an elderly man who had wandered away from a nursing home near U.S. Highway 6 west of Atlantic, Iowa.
They were about to call off the search when the troopers located him in a soybean field. They began to circle the area when the plane made a sudden turn and crashed vertically into the ground.
Trooper Gerling had served with the Iowa State Patrol for one year. He was survived by his wife and two children