AMHERST COUNTY, Va. – Many will gather this Friday as an Amherst County bridge will be renamed after a Virginia state trooper who died in the line of duty earlier this year.
On Friday, at 2 p.m, at Amherst County High School, the South Main Street bridge over Route 29 will be dedicated to 28-year-old Trooper Lucas Dowell.
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The bridge will be known as the "Trooper Lucas B. Dowell Bridge"
Dowell, a four-year veteran with the department, was shot and killed on Feb. 4, 2019, while assisting with a search warrant during a narcotics arrest operation at a residence in Cumberland County.
A native of Chilhowie, Virginia, Dowell graduated from Radford University with a degree in criminal justice.
He then graduated from the Virginia State Police Academy in November 2014.
As a trooper, he was first assigned to the Virginia State Police Appomattox Division’s Area 18 Office, before being transferred to Area 20, which is also in the Appomattox Division and encompasses Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst and Campbell.
Dowell was also a member of the Appomattox Division Tactical Team -Â the equivalent of a SWAT Team.
A second bridge will be dedicated in Dowell’s honor near his hometown in Smyth County in November