06/04/2026
For most of you, summer is well underway. You are taking the time to enjoy this beautiful weather and all the activities that summer brings. For one family, and many many friends and partners, their lives came to a screeching halt yesterday.
We will never know the battle one is fighting, the demons they keep at bay, the pain they smile through. And they never get to see the heartbreak, unanswered questions, and ripple effects left behind for those who loved them.
I heard from so many last night. Those who worked with him, partners, dispatchers. Those who are his friends and had just talked to him. Those who have been through treatment multiple times and have come out on the good side. I look at my own husband who has fought so damn hard to be here, that hits hard, right in our own home. So many, “if I could have just talked to him.” The one that stuck with me, as I was talking with Nathan (The Not So Little VP), why does it take times like this for people to come together? A powerful question from a kid who grew up way too fast in a home at times consumed by the weight of the badge…and I don’t have an answer. But what I know is we will be there. For our family, for any who needs it. We show up for the ones who are struggling and the ones who think they’re fine. We show up on the good days and the bad days.. Be the good and always pick up that phone. Make the call. Grab lunch. Smile, be kind. That costs nothing.
Lt Uthe, we are sorry. This simply cannot be “left here” or swept away. We need to learn from this and be there in his name. Help the next. Take care of his family. Do the things that he would have done but didn’t have the chance to do.
Mn State Patrol and all who knew him, worked with him, loved him, and called him friend…stay strong. We are here as well as so many others. Our sincere condolences on the loss of a man so great.
Rest easy Lieutenant, we’ll take it from here.
