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Cochise County sheriff warns drivers near highway work, honors retiring EOD specialist and fallen colleagues
Summary
Sheriff Mark Daniels used a KWCD radio segment to urge caution around highway construction after seeing drivers breach barricades, announced recent retirements and memorials, and listed upcoming public appearances.
Sheriff Mark Daniels of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office urged drivers to be vigilant in construction zones on U.S. 90 and near Fry Boulevard and recounted two recent incidents in which drivers drove through barricades, narrowly avoiding serious injury.
Daniels told KWCD’s First Watch that while returning from a meeting in Phoenix he watched a driver “drift off, go right through the barricade,” rip a mirror off a vehicle and knock over barriers where crews were working. “When you’re in a construction zone, you have to have to be, you know, you gotta be vigilant,” Daniels said.
The recommendation came during a broader community update on the First Watch program, where Daniels also recognized long-serving staff and recent deaths among local law enforcement leaders. He called attention to the retirement this week of a 43-year public-safety employee identified in the broadcast as “Mister Talpucker,” who served as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist and later ran the major crimes unit. Daniels also said two longtime law-enforcement leaders — identified as John Munch, a former U.S. Border Patrol agent in charge, and Mario Morales, a former chief deputy and longtime Santa Cruz County leader — recently died and were being remembered by colleagues.
Why it matters: highway construction in Cochise County has been ongoing for months, and Daniels warned that impatience and drivers seeking shortcuts pose safety risks to workers and motorists. He said work on the project is expected to finish “within 3 weeks” or by June, and asked residents to be patient and follow posted detours.
Daniels made several community announcements on the program, including a public appearance at the RISE Festival at Veterans Memorial Park and an invitation to follow the sheriff’s office on social media and contact the office at (520) 432-9500 or via the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office website for more information.
The broadcast combined safety advice (practical guidance to drivers), community notices and remembrances; none of the items carried a formal government action or vote.
Daniels’s closing on the segment: “Thanks everybody, and have a safe week.”
