Updated at: 09/09/2009 9:18 AM | KSAX.com
By: Megan Matthews
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Fallen Douglas County Deputy Curt Felt Remembered 31-Years Later

The memory of Deputy Curt Felt is still fresh in the mind of his former law enforcement partner and former Douglas County Sheriff Bill Ingebrigsten.

"It wasn't that...well I guess it was a long time ago that it happened here but nevertheless that never leaves you and when it happens again it'll happen again unfortunately," said Ingebrigsten.

Felt was shot in the line of duty on June 29, 1978, at the Douglas County Courthouse.  Felt was called to escort 32-year-old James Kroupa to the Fergus Falls Jail for DWI charges.  As Kroupa left the courtroom, he pulled out one of four guns he was carrying and shot Felt. 

Felt died three and a half hours later at Douglas County Hospital.  Kroupa died three days later after from gunshot wounds he suffered after fleeing the scene.

"It's just kind of numbing sense if you will...of all of us not really knowing how to react.  You're never trained to react to that," remembered Ingebrigsten.

He says at the time not all deputies and officers were wearing bulletproof vests, and rural Minnesota courthouses didn't have the security they have today, because this kind of thing didn't happen."

"It never was supposed to happen out here...well it did," says Ingebrigsten.

Alexandria has a park dedicated to the memory of Deputy Felt.  It's located right across from Alexandria Golf Course on Highway 42.

Written for the web by Megan Matthews

megan@ksax.com