By Associated Press - Monday, March 16, 2020

PHOENIX (AP) - The first Phoenix police officer to die in the line of duty has been honored.

The Foundation of Retired Police Officers dedicated a historical marker Sunday at the gravesite of William Hazelton “Haze” Burch in the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery.

His original gravestone is being restored.



Burch was fatally shot while trying to stop two men siphoning gasoline from a car on Feb. 5, 1925.

The two suspects also were prosecuted in two other murders of law enforcement officers in Texas and Montana.

Phoenix radio station KTAR reported that Burch’s grandson Frank Burch was at the dedication along with other members of the Burch family and many retired officers.

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