This article was originally published in The Examiner on Nov. 30, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Funeral services for the Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who died while on duty Thanksgiving
Day will be on Friday, Dec. 1, in Mexia, Texas, Texas DPS said in a news release.
Trooper Damon Allen, 41, was shot during a traffic stop south of Fairfield in Freestone County about 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 23.
Allen walked up to a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu for a traffic violation on southbound I-45 and talked to the driver before going back to his patrol car, Texas DPS said.
Then the driver fired multiple shots from a rifle at Allen, who died at the scene.
The suspect was later arrested in Waller County on Thursday night and faces a capital murder charge.
Allen served the department for more than 15 years and is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son, according to Texas DPS.
The visitation will be held on Thursday, Nov. 30, from 5-7 p.m. at Bowers Funeral Home, 900 U.S. Highway 84 in Teague. Funeral services will be held Friday, Dec. 1, at 10 a.m. at the Mexia High School football stadium near 1100 North Bailey St. in Mexia, just south of the junior high school.
Interment will follow at the Salem Cemetery on County Road 731 south of Teague.
“For more than 15 years, Trooper Damon Allen dedicated his life to bravely protecting and helping his fellow Texans,” Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said. “He was an outstanding officer and a loving family man who brought joy to so many around him.
“We are devastated by his loss,” he said. “Trooper Allen will be missed beyond measure by all who knew him. Trooper Allen will live on in our hearts, and his sacrifice will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers remain with his loved ones, and
Trooper Allen and his family will always be a part of the DPS family.”
Allen, commissioned as a trooper in July 2002, was stationed in Groesbeck at the
time of his death.
He is the 221st DPS officer to die in the line of duty since 1823, and the first trooper to die in a shooting since 2008, Texas DPS said.
Memorial donations can be made to The 100 Club of Houston Survivors’ Fund or to the account set up for Allen’s family at a nearby branch of Citizens National Bank.
Eleanor Skelton 