This Wednesday, September 24, there will be one new inductee added to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor at Garrett High School. This program allows us to connect our past with our present to impact the future.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” James R. Bailey. Husband. Father. Son. Brother. Uncle. Master Trooper. Garrett High School Class of 1991 Graduate. Hero.
James was dedicated to his family, duty, and public service. He would uphold that reputation through nearly 16 years of service as an Indiana State Trooper, from his date of appointment on July 8, 2007, until the date of his ultimate sacrifice on Friday, March 3, 2023.
James was a lifelong resident of Dekalb County. He was born November 10, 1972, and grew up in Garrett. He attended school there from kindergarten through high school and played multiple sports growing up. During his school years, James was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, but he didn’t let this stop him. After receiving chemotherapy and radiation for his cancer, he recovered and continued his sports career at Garrett. During his senior basketball season on November 30, 1990, James made the game winning shot against Garrett’s rival Dekalb Barons, which was the first time Garrett had won at Dekalb since 1972.
After James graduated from Garrett, he returned as an assistant coach for the Garrett girls JV softball team for the 1994-95 season. He met and married his wife Amy Garn, a 1996 graduate of Garrett, in June 2001. Together, they had two children, Joseph and Sophia. Between the births of their two children, James suffered from another cancer called Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma. He had surgery to remove the tumor in the soft tissue of his leg and once again had chemotherapy. During all this, James worked at Eaton and pursued his dream of becoming a police officer. He worked as a reserve for Noble County for a few years before applying to the Indiana State Police. James was first assigned to patrol the Indiana toll road and later transferred to his home district, the Fort Wayne post, where he patrolled Dekalb and Allen counties. He was excited to have the opportunity to patrol and have an impact on the communities in which he had grown up his entire life.
As a testament to James’s dedication to duty, service, and self-sacrifice, in 2012, James battled cancer for the third time when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He underwent major surgery where 1/3 of his left lung was removed followed by a rigorous course of chemotherapy. Despite missing six months of work during this time, he was still able to accomplish his goals. He received the Indiana State Police District 22 “Trooper of the Year” award for superior work performance. Within that nomination, his district commander cited James for having “incredible attitude, character, and strength.”
James not only enjoyed making a difference in his community but also had an interest in continued self-improvement and the desire to help improve the professional skill set of his fellow troopers. James successfully earned his Indiana Law Enforcement Education Academy instructor certification and began teaching courses such as First Aid, CPR and AED as well as Standard Field Sobriety Testing. He would eventually earn a psycho-motor skills rating as an Emergency Vehicle Operation Skills instructor and would spend a great deal of time improving the emergency driving skills of seasoned troopers as well as cadets in the academy.
Over the course of his career, he was awarded several times for actions that spoke of his high level of dedication and commitment, as well as his bravery and courage under fire. In 2010, James was awarded a Life Saving award after both he and his wife jumped into action to perform CPR on a man that had collapsed in a restaurant parking lot, effectively saving his life. In 2021, James was awarded the department’s Combat Action award after he was involved in a vehicle pursuit which ended with multiple volleys of gunfire by the suspect.
Sadly, that same level of dedication, courage, bravery, and professionalism in service to his beloved community in one final incident would this time end in tragedy for James. On March 3, 2023, at approximately 4:30pm, while attempting to deploy stop sticks to de-escalate a police vehicle pursuit on I-69 in Dekalb County, James was struck and critically injured by that suspect vehicle. Life-saving measures attempted at the scene, much like those that he and his wife, Amy, had once employed to save another’s life, could not save his own. Master Trooper James R. Bailey would succumb to his injuries and die at a nearby hospital. His actions saved countless lives on I-69 that night.
In April 2024, Master Trooper James R. Bailey was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for Distinguished Service for his actions and final sacrifice. He is a hero and a credit to his school and community. He will never be forgotten.