This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mourners on Tuesday paid tribute to fallen Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride with a new monument memorializing his childhood in American Fork.
"Boys play loudly at courage, conquering imaginary enemies in glorious battle," reads the plaque installed at Robinson Park. "They do not know that, when they are men and foes are real, their courage will likely be quiet and their glory too often found in ultimate sacrifice."
City officials joined law enforcement officers and Wride's family at the park to commemorate the plaque, which private donors gave to the city of American Fork.
"This young man grew up in our community, he played here, he went to our schools as a boy — and he died protecting our community as a county sheriff's deputy," said American Fork City Councilman Brad Frost.
Wride, 44, was shot and killed Jan. 30 when he stopped to check on a pickup that was stopped on the shoulder of State Road 73 near Eagle Mountain. Wride was sitting in his patrol car when the driver of the pickup, 27-year-old Jose Angel Garcia-Jauregui, allegedly fired on Wride through the pickup's sliding rear window. Jauregui fled, shooting and wounding another officer in Santaquin, and later was shot by Juab County sheriff's deputies in Nephi.
Meagan Dakota Grunwald, 17, was in the truck with Jauregui and is accused of being involved with the crime spree although Jauregui is believed to have fired all the shots. Grunwald is charged with aggravated murder in Wride's death and attempted aggravated murder in the wounding of Utah County sheriff's Deputy Greg Sherwood, the officer who was shot in the head in Santaquin.
"In the shadow of such sacrifice, it is for us, beyond our weeping, to remember the boy, honor the man, and forgive the foe," the memorial states. It was placed near the playground at the park, 100 E. Main St. Footprints are painted on the pavement leading to the plaque.