CHARLOTTE POLICE MOURN A COMRADE

Anthony Scott Futrell had logged nearly 1,000 flying hours, most of those
piloting small planes in search of marijuana growing in fields across the
state.

On Wednesday, his day off, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police sergeant and
two officers from other counties were killed when they crashed in a cotton
field in Chowan County, on the Albemarle Sound. They'd been conducting a
drug search for the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer auxiliary unit of the Air
Force.

As National Transportation Safety Board investigators tried to determine
the cause of the crash Thursday, police and family members began making
funeral arrangements for Futrell -- the first Charlotte-Mecklenburg police
officer killed while conducting law enforcement business since 1993.

Flags across the city were lowered to half-staff. The department's 1,500
officers stretched black mourning bands around their silver badges. And
some of Futrell's co-workers in the department's aviation unit drove east
to escort his body home.

"All of us are in shock and working through the grief associated with
losing a friend and colleague who was so well respected," said the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief, Darrel Stephens, who visited Futrell's
family Thursday. "It's one of those things, you can never find the right
words to express the grief and sorrow. It never quite fills the bill."

Futrell, 38, who lived in Mooresville, graduated from East Mecklenburg High
and Gardner Webb University. After serving in the Army's 82nd Airborne, he
joined the Mecklenburg County Police Department in 1987. He celebrated 15
years in local law enforcement earlier this week.

During his career, he worked as an instructor at the department's training
academy, served on the SWAT team, helped organize a civil disobedience
unit, and was a member of ALERT, a group of emergency responders who would
be first to the scene of a terrorist attack. He directed all of the state's
counter drug operations for the Civil Air Patrol, and had headed the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's helicopter unit since December.

"He'd been through more schools than anybody I know," said Officer Matt
Porter, who worked for Futrell in the aviation unit. "He was quite driven.
He's an EMT. He does swift water rescue. He rappels. He's a pilot. He
coordinated all of our helicopter training."

Futrell was not on duty for the police department at the time of his death,
but he is the first Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer killed while
conducting law enforcement business since October 1993, when Andy Nobles
and John Burnette were shot while chasing a suspect. A Mecklenburg County
sheriff's captain, Anthony Stancil, was the last law enforcement officer
slain in Charlotte. He was gunned down while working off-duty as a security
officer in 1998.

Also killed in Wednesday's crash were:

. Robert Stephen Kennedy, 46, a major and assistant chief with the Boone
Police Department. Kennedy, also a member of the Civil Air Patrol, was a
pilot and trained to spot marijuana from the air.

. Richard Edward Ashley Jr., 35, a deputy with the Chowan County Sheriff's
Office for 15 months. He had volunteered for the mission.

The National Transportation Safety Board released little information about
the crash Thursday, saying it will take months to determine a cause. Engine
failure did not appear to be the cause, investigators said.

Late Thursday officers escorted Futrell's body home to Charlotte in a
procession that grew from a few squad cars to dozens as it reached a
funeral home on Providence Road about 10:30 p.m. Minutes before, the
procession passed through the intersection of Fourth and McDowell streets
uptown, as friends and relatives wept near a large American flag suspended
75 feet high by firetruck ladders.

Futrell's funeral will be 2 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church, 301 South
Davidson Street, Charlotte. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and two
children. -- STAFF WRITER ROBERT F. MOORE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE.