National guard airman from Fairview Heights dies in off-duty accident

An Illinois National Guard airman from Fairview Heights died in an off-duty car accident in Mississippi on Thursday.

Senior Airman Taylor Labrier, 31, was on temporary duty assignment to the 81st Training Wing at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and attending Air Force school at the time of his death.

A preliminary investigation of the car accident indicates that Moses Dang, 57, entered the southbound off ramp to Interstate 110 in D’Iberville, Mississippi as Labrier was exiting the interstate, according to the Sun Herald.

Dang’s vehicle collided head-on with Labrier’s. Both were declared dead at the scene.

Labrier was a communications expert with the 183rd Wing based in Springfield, according to the Illinois Army and Air National Guard. He transferred from the Illinois Army National Guard to the Illinois Air National Guard last year, after first enlisting in 2014.

This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 11:03 AM.