Published: July 23, 2008 08:17 pm         

NEW: Vermillion County Memorial to officers who were struck vandalized

NEWPORT — State police are trying to determine who damaged a memorial for two police officers killed during a charity bike ride in 2006.

Authorities say someone uprooted flowers and damaged two wooden crosses at the memorial on Indiana 63 for state police Lt. Gary Dudley and retired Lake County Sheriff’s Department Chief Gary Martin. A lighting system also was ripped from the ground and the lamps broken.

Dudley’s widow, Carolyn Dudley, discovered the damage Tuesday when she visited the site to prepare it for a memorial service set for Sunday during this year’s ride for Indiana Concerns of Police Survivors.

The memorial marks the site where Gary Dudley and Martin were struck and killed in August 2006. Dudley and Martin were among a group of riders on a four-lane section of Indiana 63 about 50 miles north of Terre Haute when a support van spun into them after it was hit from behind by a box truck. Another officer was injured in the crash.

State police urged anyone with information that might help find the vandals to contact the Terre Haute post at (812) 299-1151.