A memorial will be dedicated later this month to Michigan State Police Trooper Allan Peterson, who was the 34th MSP officer to die in the line of duty in 1981. The event will be at the Lake Street railroad crossing in Bridgman, where Peterson and other officers responded to a train derailment on August 7, 1981. Peterson was assigned to the inner perimeter of the scene, around 100 yards from the wreckage, and was exposed to a poisonous acid that was thought at the time to be toxic, but not lethal. He woke up at home in Three Oaks on August 29 with a severe coughing spasm, and died while being rushed to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Michigan City, Indiana. The autopsy determined the cause of death to be heart failure from hardening of the arteries, but years later, officials revealed the medical complications of his death were directly related to the exposure to the toxic gas from the derailment. Peterson served in the U.S. Coast Guard prior to joining MSP and was survived by his wife and two daughters. His memorial dedication will be at 8:12 a.m. on Thursday, August 29, and is open to the public.
