4th Annual Trooper Nicholas Dees Run Supports Scholarship and Saves Lives
On a chilly but clear day, 300 runners lined up at the starting line for the 4th Annual Trooper Nicholas Dees Run. Shelley Russell, his mother, prepared for the run with her granddaughter Claire — Nicholas’ oldest daughter — in the 12-year-old’s first 5K run. In the crowd, a man from Longview, Texas, waited with a thin blue line flag; a symbol of the sacrifice law enforcement officers make each day. It was his fourth time to take part with the flag in this special run. Some of the runners registered to take the longer route, 7.31 miles—Nicholas’ badge number.
Before the run to raise funds for the Trooper Nicholas Dees Memorial Scholarship, bagpipes played. There were prayers, songs, and stories.
Then the starting gun went off, setting the runners in motion to continue a journey that began January 31, 2015. Really, though, it started before that.
OHP Trooper Nicholas Dees spent eighteen months on the force, changing countless lives in that short amount of time. He carried a Bible in his patrol car and prayed with people every chance he had. Stories continue to emerge of the impact he had on his community and those who entered it. There were two incidents when he arrested nonviolent offenders, and prayed for them. They later became Christians.
“He always told me, ‘I’m a warrior,’” Shelley says, “and, ‘Read your Bible, pray more, worry less. It’ll be all right, Mom.’”
On January 31, 2015, Nicholas and another trooper were assisting with a nighttime accident on a roadside east of Shawnee, Oklahoma. They didn’t know a man with a 4-month-old daughter in the backseat was careening toward them, about to send his 189th text message.
“An average text takes three seconds,” Shelley says. “On the interstate at 75MPH, you could be driving up to three football fields blindfolded. If you keep going, it’s not a matter of if you do it, it’s when.”
The car struck the troopers on the side of the highway, seriously injuring Trooper Keith Burch. Nicholas, Shelley’s only child, didn’t survive.
She received the knock on her door at midnight.
Through intense grief and finding a way to forgiveness, Shelley knew she had to honor her son’s memory and keep his legacy and spirit alive. As a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, working for the tribe over 20 years, she decided to found a memorial scholarship through the Chahta Foundation to help Choctaw youth who wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement.
“My son was a hero,” she says. “If we can try to help another tribal member go into criminal justice, that’s what Nicholas would want.”
The first recipient of the scholarship was Tyler Wickson, who brought out Nicholas’ story for the National Indian Health Board’s digital story project in 2015. That same year, he was awarded the scholarship, completed his training and testing, and is now a police officer in Boswell, Oklahoma.
Shelley visits schools regularly to share Nicholas’ life and tragic end. She will never know the lives she and Nicholas have saved, how many teens and adults put their phones down after hearing his story that has gone worldwide.
“I’ve had feedback where moms make their teenage kids watch the videos I post on Facebook,” she says. “The family is crying through the whole thing, but if they get it and say they’re never going to text again [while driving], if it makes them cry, that’s what they need.”
This year, rather than a memorial, Shelley wanted the fundraising run to be a joyful celebration of Nicholas’ life. This year’s run ended with the Sherman Police Regional Pipe Band playing bagpipes at the finish line, and OHS troopers welcoming the runners across.
“I couldn’t have done it without the sponsors, community, and all the volunteers,” Shelley says. “We’ve sold fundraising stuff in about every state. Even Canada did a virtual run, and someone did one in Germany.
“When I started this run, I wanted to bring awareness to texting and driving, to fund the scholarship, and also to humanize the people in law enforcement. I think this run accomplishes that.”
While the event is bittersweet, and each year, Shelley isn’t sure she can do another one, she feels God’s presence in the work.
“I couldn’t do it without the Chahta Foundation and the Choctaw Nation matching dollar for dollar,” she says. “That has helped get our fund endowed a lot quicker. I know that Nicholas’ scholarship will live on long after I’m gone.”
You can follow the continuing story of Trooper Nicholas Dees on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicholasdees731
Credit: Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer
