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Huber driveway to honor fallen deputy

Photo

Jan Van Dreser

Photo

Patrick Bolton

ELKHORN — Retired Walworth County Sheriff's Deputy Jan Van Dreser remembered his former partner Patrick Bolton as an honest, straight-arrow cop who enjoyed smoking cigars while on duty.

Bolton at age 31 is believed to be the only full-time deputy who lost his life in the line of duty with the Walworth County Sheriff's Office, which was established in 1839, Undersheriff Kurt Picknell said.

Nearly 45 years after Bolton's death by accidental electrocution, the sheriff's office will honor the fallen deputy by naming the driveway to the Huber facility after him. The driveway is now referred to as Huber Way.

The memorial will go to the Walworth County Board for its consideration Tuesday, June 14. The county's public works committee has recommended the board approve the measure.

The sheriff's office has ordered two street signs that will call the roadway Patrick Bolton Drive, Capt. Dave Gerber said.

Because a driveway is not a street, sheriff's officials can call it anything they want, provided it's approved by the county board, according to a committee memo.

Few deputies and administrators know much about Bolton or his short tenure as a deputy that ended tragically Aug. 26, 1966.

Newspaper clippings provide the following account of the fatal event:

Bolton and Van Dreser were investigating a single-car accident at the bend of County J several miles west of East Troy.

A 23-year-old Whitewater man missed the bend in the road and struck a utility pole, causing an electrical blackout in the area.

The accident investigation was nearly complete when Bolton came into contact with a live wire that carried 4,800 volts.

Van Dreser was in a patrol car with the driver, Richard J. Chesmore, when he heard a thump.

Van Dreser found Bolton lying on his back.

Van Dreser administered CPR until an East Troy rescue squad arrived and tried to revive the downed deputy. Bolton was pronounced dead at the scene.

Van Dreser, 74, in a recent interview said he believes his partner was rechecking measurements of the accident scene when he slipped on wet grass and his arm came into contact with a dangling wire. The car crash happened shortly after 2 a.m.

He was survived by his wife, Kaye, and three children.

The misfortune ended a friendship that began in grade school, Van Dreser said.

"Even in grade school, his mission was to be in law enforcement," Van Dreser said.

Bolton's father, Ray, ran a wrecking service in Walworth where the son came into contact with law enforcement personnel, Van Dreser said.

Bolton attended Walworth High School and served three years in the U.S. Army. He was a member of the Walworth Village Police Department for two and a half years before joining the sheriff's office in 1965.

Van Dreser joined the force the same year as Bolton. He retired from the sheriff's office in 1991 as a sergeant.

When the two were young men, police training was done on the job, Van Dreser said.

Besides the smell of cigars, Van Dreser remembered his partner as being a dogged investigator.

"He'd get a lead on something, like looking for a certain car," Van Dreser said. "He wouldn't let go. He'd work it until the end of the shift.

"He had a nose for wanting to get things done right."

Van Dreser said Bolton and his father were similar in that they always had cigars in their mouths.

"That's back when smoking was allowed in squad cars," Van Dreser said.