Metro-east police officer remembered for his compassion, work with K9 partners

New Baden police Officer Dave Jordan was a consistent presence at the local Love’s truck stop — often stopping to sip coffee and joke with team members and responding to incidents when needed.

Meghan Barney, who ran the Love’s for roughly five years, has been reflecting on her memories of Jordan since learning he died after being struck by a vehicle Tuesday night. She recalled one situation vividly: A family traveling in an RV didn’t realize their son went to use the Love’s restroom and accidentally left him behind. Jordan helped reunite the family.

“Having the compassion to sit and play Legos with a boy who was scared just shows what type of person (Jordan) was,” Barney said.

His daughter, Donielle Grimsley, said the story sounds like her father — caring, kind and empathetic.

“He was always willing to help anyone at any time,” Grimsley said. “For him, the thrill (of policing) wasn’t giving tickets or catching bad guys … he really fully engaged with his community.”

Jordan became a police officer in 2001 in Belleville. Grimsley said she remembers her father going through the police academy and studying the material.

“He realized later in life that he wanted to be in a position to really serve his community,” she said.

Over the years, Jordan worked for several police departments, including Belleville, Trenton and New Baden.

“In a day in age when police officers are getting a bad wrap, he was a stunning example of a good police officer,” Barney said, using all the positive adjectives she could think of to describe Jordan.

Grimsley said the highlight of Jordan’s career was being a K-9 officer. His four-legged partners would become family pets at the end of their tenure.

Grimsley said she and Jordan’s two other children, Gabby and Cameron, found it particularly special when their dad did K-9 demonstrations at their schools while they were growing up.

“We always took pride in that because we knew what an exceptional person he was,” she said.

At the time of his death, Jordan was a proud dog dad to a black lab named June Carter, named after Johnny Cash’s wife. As June’s name suggests, Jordan was an old-school country fan. June Carter was not a police K-9, but one of Jordan’s previous K-9s was named Cash.

Jordan was also an avid outdoorsman and passed along his love for fishing and hunting to his children and grandchildren, Grimsley said. The same goes for his passion for the St. Louis Blues, she said.

Visitations will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 29, and from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at George Renner and Sons Funeral Home, 120 N. Illinois St., Belleville. His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 29, at the funeral home, with a procession to follow to New Baden Village Park for a prayer service.

The family asks that donations be made in Jordan’s honor to the Katie Jean 118 First Responders Assistance Memorial, Jordan’s obituary states. The organization and the New Baden Police Department are creating shirts to benefit Jordan’s family. Visit the Katie Jean Jollenbeck-Busby 118 First Responder Assistance Memorial’s Facebook page for more information.

This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 6:10 PM.