Forgiveness was a common theme offered during a memorial ceremony Monday marking the fifth anniversary of Overland Park police officer Mike Mosher’s death in the line of duty.
Mosher’s father Overland Park City Councilmember Scott Mosher spoke during the event. He described how he felt compelled from the beginning to reach out to the family of Phillip Carney — the man who shot and killed Mike Mosher before succumbing to injuries he also suffered in the fatal exchange of gunfire — and invite them to his son’s funeral.
He urged those who gathered Monday to remember his son to “have forgiveness in your heart.”
“I have forgiveness in my heart, and that’s why I can speak about Mike,” he said, adding that he has “total forgiveness” for Carney. “By letting our grievances fester, it causes us to get angry, it causes us to get frustrated. Let’s resolve them and move ahead together.”
Phillip Carney’s father, Paul Carney, said his family had developed a close relationship with the Moshers and agreed that their approach has helped his family heal.
“It’s been extremely important for us. We’ve taken the mercy and the forgiveness that they’ve shown us, and we’ve tried to project it,” he said, “and just realized that this life is not permanent and that we’ve got so much time here to be good and forgiving to one another.”
In addition to prepared remarks offered by police department leadership and people who knew Mike Mosher, the police department led a brief commemoration ceremony on Monday marking the end of Mosher’s watch. An honor guard stood watch throughout and a dispatcher read out a final call for Officer Mosher over the radio.
Mosher remembered for his public service
Mosher, who was 37 at the time of his death, served nearly 15 years with the Overland Park Police Department, working as a patrol officer on the midnight shift and eventually as a field training officer. He was also at one point a school resource officer.
“His selfless spirit, professionalism and kindness left a lasting mark on this department, the city and everyone fortunate enough to know him,” said Ward Jenkins, Overland Park police chaplain on Monday.
In 2018, the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police gave Mosher the Gold Valor Award following a shootout with an armed man. He was also the Metropolitan Chiefs and Sheriffs Association’s 2019 Officer of the Year.
“His legacy reaches far beyond his badge. It looks on in the department he helped shape in the community he proudly served, and in countless lives he touched along the way,” said Overland Park Police Chief Doreen Jokerst, who was not with the department at the time of Mosher’s killing.
“Mike embodied the very best at what it means to serve. He led with kindness. He stood firm in the face of danger and never wavered in the dedication of protecting others,” Jokerst said.
Outside his public service, Mosher is remembered as a brother, a husband and a father. Scott Mosher recalled his son’s role as “family peacemaker” and noted his community service, including through his involvement with Special Olympics.
“He was a man as well as a police officer. There was a life beyond the uniform,” Scott Mosher told the Post. “He was a special person that was able to bring out the good in others.”
What happened on May 3, 2020?
On May 3, 2020, Mosher was attempting to arrest a hit-and-run suspect, later identified as Carney, after witnessing a crash while he was on his way to an off-duty assignment in his personal vehicle.
Mosher pursued Carney north on Antioch Road to 123rd Street, where Carney turned east and came to a stop just east of Mackey Street.
In recorded radio traffic of the incident, Mosher can be heard telling dispatchers that the suspect, Carney, got out of the car, approached Mosher’s vehicle and then refused to go back to his car. Officers responding to the call then reported hearing gunfire.
Both Mosher and Carney fatally shot each other in an exchange of gunfire. Later, the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office found that Mosher had been justified in his use of deadly force.
During a “Salute the Blue” procession following Mosher’s death, hundreds of people lined the streets of Overland Park to honor his life and service. The ceremony included a public drive-by visitation at the Overland Park Convention Center, and the family held a private funeral.
Mosher was the second Overland Park police officer to die in the line of duty in Overland Park.
Officer Deanna Rose, 26 at the time, was killed 40 years prior, when she was run over on Interstate 35 trying to arrest a man for driving under the influence. Rose was the first female police officer in Kansas to be killed in the line of duty.
In addition to Mosher and Rose’s deaths, 23-year-old Overland Park Officer Freddie Castro died after contracting COVID-19 in 2021.
Overland Park named a street for Mosher
Less than a year after Mosher’s death, the city renamed a half-mile stretch of 123rd Street after him. Mike Mosher Boulevard now runs from Blue Valley Parkway to Metcalf Avenue.
Nearby, Overland Park also dedicated a commemorative plaque and sign at the base of a light pole by the site of Mosher’s final call around 123rd and Mackey streets.
The city mulled other options for memorializing Mosher shortly after his death. One possibility floated in fall 2020 was to name the forthcoming police training facility after him. At the time, the facility was still a ways off.
The city has recently started taking early steps toward realizing that project on the W. Jack Sanders Justice Center campus. However, it’s unclear if Overland Park city officials still intend to name it for Mosher.
Keep reading: ‘Mike Mosher Boulevard’ — OP police officer killed in the line of duty gets lasting honor
