Death of Alexander County sheriff's mother-in-law called 'tragic vehicular accident'

CAIRO, Ill. - The Alexander County Sheriff Department called the death of Sheriff David Barkett's mother-in-law "a tragic vehicular accident" in a news release Wednesday afternoon. The woman had Alzheimer's Disease, according to a brief statement issued by Chief Deputy Stephen W. Thomas Wednesday afternoon. The statement said the woman lived next door to her son-in-law.

Barkett was responding to a domestic violence call in his squad car at approximatly 1:25 a.m. Wednesday and was backing out of the driveway of his Cairo home when he struck Mary Elizabeth Burnley, 87, according to the Illinois State Police. A state police team is investigating the incident, according to Trooper Bridget Rice, who said Burnley had been on foot and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Barkett called the Cairo Police Department after the incident and Cairo police called state police investigators. The Alexander County Sheriff Department was not called to the scene, according to an unidentified sheriff department employee; Barkett is not currently on duty, although he was at the time of the incident.

Rice said no charges had been filed against Barkett and it was not certain any would be; she said she did not know what charges might apply in such a case but that if he was charged with anything, he would be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

She said the team of state investigators includes a crash reconstruction specialist and that the team handles investigating "99.9 percent of fatal crashes in the region."

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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