A Jefferson City man was named an "honorary trooper" of the Missouri State Highway Patrol last week for stopping to help stranded motorists in an accident that took a tragic turn.

Rudd	Shoop

Sgt. Tony Shoop, 37, of the Missouri National Guard had picked up some kerosene heaters in Columbia on Dec. 9 and was returning south on Highway 63 to the armory in Jefferson City when he saw two vehicles stalled in the grass median, near the Katy Trail Bridge.

Slick road conditions at the bridge had contributed to several cars skidding off the road. Shoop and fellow guardsman, University of Missouri student Neilson Rudd, 22, stopped to help them get back on track.

At about 5 p.m., as the two good Samaritans were side by side, walking back in the grass median to their cars, a northbound motorist in a Ford Explorer lost control. The sport utility vehicle struck Rudd from behind, killing him.

"He was talking one second, and the next second he wasn’t there," Shoop said Tuesday.

Shoop helped highway patrol Sgt. Tim Tinnin, who attempted to give Rudd CPR, but Rudd died at the scene.

The men had just met but found a common bond. Rudd was returning from a drill weekend at the 140th Regimental Training Institute at Fort Leonard Wood, and he recognized Shoop as military because of his haircut.

"The haircut always gives it away," Shoop, a recruiter, chuckled. "Only a military person would be crazy enough to get this haircut."

On Monday, Rudd’s family accepted an honorary trooper award on his behalf at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

On Tuesday, the patrol at Troop F in Jefferson City made Shoop an honorary trooper.

"It’s the highest honor we can give a civilian," said Sgt. Paul Reinsch of the highway patrol.

The award is especially meaningful to Shoop, whose brother, Tim Shoop, is a highway patrolman serving with the Macon-based Troop B. But he has mixed feelings about the honor.

"I wish I wasn’t getting it because I wish Neilson was still here with us and everything had gone well," he said.

Shoop was faced with a dilemma Dec. 15 as he drove along Highway 63 toward Westphalia after a deer hunt. He saw a car occupied by four women that had skidded into a ditch. He said at first he wasn’t sure he wanted to help.

"I had to stop and think about it," he said.

But he did stop his vehicle and pulled their vehicle from the ditch with his truck.

"I can’t pass somebody on the side of the road because if it was me or my family, I’d want somebody to stop and help," he said.

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