GRAND FORKS (KNOX) – An 18-year-veteran of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department in North Dakota was remembered on Wednesday afternoon as a devoted family man and a respected officer.
A funeral service for 53-year-old Deputy Paul Martin was held at Beulah High School, one week after he died in a police pursuit involving a man having a mental health crisis.
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said Martin’s sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Wrigley said: “Today, North Dakota lays to rest a hero. Mercer County Deputy Sheriff Paul Martin, rest in the eternal peace for which you paid the ultimate price. End of call, Paul. Rest. We have it from here.”
Martin previously served with the North Dakota’s Nelson County Sheriff’s Office, and Hazen and Beulah Police Departments after starting his career in the U.S. Army as a military police K-9 officer.
Philip Nelson, chaplain of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, called Martin “a man of camaraderie.”
Nelson added: “If you were a veteran, law enforcement or first responder, you knew, because that bond is forged in that furnace of adversity… I guarantee you, you knew that he was your brother through and through, and if the call would come, he would answer.”
The Grand Forks Police Department sent two cars to the funeral. The delegation included members of the GFPD Honor Guard, and other officers.
The suspect in Martin’s death, 42-year-old Ian Cramer, is currently in custody. Cramer is the son of U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
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