MAYFIELD, Ky. -- A deputy jailer is being honored by the sheriff's office he worked for after he was killed on duty during a devastating tornado in 2021.
The Graves County Sheriff's Office said on Monday, May 13, Deputy Jailer Robert Daniel is honored and remembered as he made the ultimate sacrifice, while on duty, during the December 10, 2021 EF-4 tornado which hit Mayfield.
The tornado demolished many structures and killed dozens on its path through many communities. The severe storm system tore through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky, killing at least one in each state as it passed through.
The sheriff's office said Mr. Daniel was on duty, supervising seven inmates as part of a work release program at the Mayfield Consumer Products' candle factory. Daniel was said to be with the nearly 100 employees in the shelter when the roof collapsed and killed him, along with employees at the factory.
"Without the risks that he took to save others, more employees from the factory would have been killed," the Graves County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.
Deputy Jailer Robert Daniel is survived by his four daughters, three sons, seven grandchildren, two brothers and father.
Daniel was reported to have been 47 years old at the time of his death.
