Arizona has suffered the loss of a great man and a fine Sheriff. Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever died last night after rolling his vehicle on a U. S. Forest Service road. Dever was known for his tough stance on combating illegal immigration and for treating people with respect. He will be missed.
Larry Dever, the four-term Republican sheriff of Cochise County, has died in a one-vehicle crash near the northern Arizona town of Williams. He was 60.
Dever's death was confirmed early Wednesday by the sheriff's department.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas said Dever was driving to meet one of his sons for a two-day hunting trip when his vehicle rolled on a U.S. Forest service road, according to the Sierra Vista Herald.
The accident happened around 7 p.m. Tuesday, about 15 miles outside of Williams.
"Anyone who met him… chances are you're going to remember that encounter because he was so charismatic," Capas told ABC15.
He entered the national spotlight as one of Arizona's four border sheriffs who asked to legally defend the state's controversial anti-illegal immigration law, known as SB1070, in federal court. Cochise County, in the state's southeastern corner, shares an 83.5-mile border with Mexico and is one of the state's hot spots for illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
He said at the time that the federal government was failing to secure the border and praised the law, which includes provisions that require police to question a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws and if officers suspect the person is in the county illegally.
Dever passed away in an area where I grew up hunting as a kid with my dad. Please keep his family in your prayers.