Stan Rader and Brett Beyer, partners and buddies
COVID was cruel. In November 2020 Brett Beyer died of COVID. He and Stan had played high school football together. They later were hired as sheriff’s deputies at the same time. They attended the police academy together. They were squad car partners for ten years. Oh, the adventure stories they were a part of!
There was a bank robbery in downtown Bloomington. Stan and Brett were on it. They chased the robber on foot. Stan was ready and had the pistol strap off. As he ran the pistol fell out of the holster and slid down the sidewalk. Starsky and Hutch on duty!
Stan and Brett guarded convicted killer, Jesse Sumner. There are a lot of stories there that I don’t know the details of and that’s probably a good thing. I know there were times that they were handcuffed to him when they transported him to court.
Then there were Stufflebeam and Swafford who were repeated burglars. Stan and Brett had several run-ins with them. For sure!
In those days deputies patrolled and directed traffic at the McLean Co. Fair. That was a hot and dusty job!
There was a lot of danger in being a deputy. This adventure began with a call from Downs that someone was shooting. Again, Stan and Brett were on it. Shots seemed to be coming from a corn field. They walked in shoulder high sweet corn. The shots kept coming. They hit the deck. Brett radioed back that they were taking rounds. Squad cars from all over arrived to help. It turned out that it was a timed explosive of some kind to keep raccoons out of the sweet corn. It took awhile for Stan and Brett to live that one down.
After the squad car partnership Stan was promoted to lieutenant in the detective division and Brett worked the desk. They still did some work together investigating cases.
Stan retired early because of health issues. Brett continued working as head of the detective division.
Stan and Brett stayed connected by talking on the phone, visiting or having coffee or lunch.
These relationships that take a lifetime to build do not end easily.
