Police officer injured in tornado dies

GREENSBURG, Kan. | A police officer critically injured in the Greensburg tornado died early today, adding more heartbreak for residents as they continued to salvage what’s left of their flattened town after one of the strongest tornados to hit the U.S. in the past eight years.

Robert Tim Buckman, a 46-year-old officer from nearby Macksville, suffered a head injury in Friday’s storm that left nine others dead in Greensburg, officials said. Buckman was taken to a Wichita hospital, where he was declared dead shortly before 8 a.m. today, his son, Derick Buckman, told The Associated Press.

“He died being a hero,” said Derick Buckman. “He was sworn to protect people and that’s what he was doing the night he got picked up by a tornado.”

During his final hours, the elder Buckman was able to symbolically give away his 18-year-old daughter in a marriage ceremony at his bedside, Derick Buckman said. The family’s hometown preacher officiated at the ceremony for Kylee Buckman and her boyfriend, Josh Mondello, 22, Derick’s best friend.


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