Part of Highway 150 to be named in honor of Deputy Nicholas Weist
A stretch of Highway 150 from Galesburg to Alpha is being renamed in honor of a Knox County Sheriff’s deputy who made the ultimate sacrifice in April 2022.
The section of the highway will honor Deputy Nicholas Weist, who died on April 29 when he was allegedly hit and killed by Daylon Richardson. Richardson has been charged with two counts of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and aggravated fleeing and eluding.
Daniel Swanson (R, Alpha), state representative from the 71st District Illinois General Assembly, helped write the resolution and guided it through the Illinois House and Senate.
“The process begins with legislation developing a resolution based upon the incident, based upon the history of the individual and just based upon a lot of information about the individual and what took place,” Swanson said. “We drafted a resolution, my staff and I, and it was House Joint Resolution 17.”
A joint resolution is one that has to pass both the House and the Senate. “It had to go to committee, and from committee, it came to vote on the House floor and then from the House floor once it passed unanimously,” said Swanson. “It was passed over to the Senate and Senator Mike Halpin and Senator Neil Anderson, both from the Quad Cities, picked up the legislation in the Senate and presented it through a Senate committee and then through the Senate. It passed unanimously on the House floor from there.”
After the resolution passed the House and Senate, the representative’s office contacted the Department of Transportation to identify when or where the signs would be placed. They decided on Highway 150 from Galesburg to Alpha and coordinated the sign placement in Galesburg and Alpha.
Swanson says it’s not unusual for a roadway to be named for a fallen officer. “It actually happens quite regularly in the House and the Senate. A lot of highways, unfortunately, are named after state troopers and police officers who’ve lost their lives in the line of duty.” Highways have also been named for members of the military who have died in the line of duty.
The highway will be officially dedicated to Officer Weist on Saturday, August 26 at 11:45 a.m. at AlWood Elementary School, 101 East A Street in Alpha. The public is welcome to attend. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs. A chaplain will lead an invocation, then the Pledge of Allegiance will be recited. The resolution will be read aloud and local dignitaries, including the mayor of Alpha, will speak.
“This tragedy happened about a mile south of Alpha,” said Swanson. “It happened in the time of day where, most likely, children would have been crossing the street to go to the school or people would have been going to the restaurant. Without Deputy Weist’s sacrifice, we could have attended many funerals of young children. We could have attended funerals of local people because he (Richardson) was driving extremely fast and going through a community like that.”
Swanson pointed out that Deputy Weist was off duty at the time of the incident. “He was heading home; he was actually in Henry County. He lived in Viola; he heard the radio chatter as he was heading home and took it upon himself to turn around to help his brothers in pursuit of a criminal. He had all the intentions of the world of stopping (Daylon Richardson) at that intersection with spike sticks.”
Swanson believes naming the highway after Deputy Weist will ensure that his sacrifice isn’t forgotten. “All of us who drive that will be reminded of the sacrifice of one person who did not live in our community (and) was willing to sacrifice his life for our community. It ensures the memory of Deputy Weist will continue on. As we get older, it’s our duty to inform those younger generations why this is named after Deputy Weist, and what he did.”
For more information on Rep. Swanson, click here.
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