The Associated Press

COVINGTON - More than 1,000 cars are expected for a funeral procession this morning for a Kentucky conservation officer killed earlier this week in a car chase.

A procession of law enforcement officers from around the region will shut down part of Dixie Highway and Interstate 71/75 ramps.

They will come in honor of Douglas W. Bryant, a popular fish and wildlife officer based in Kenton County who was killed while chasing a suspect south on I-71/75 in Fort Mitchell on Monday. Police don't know why Bryant, a 14-year veteran, was chasing the car.

The driver of the vehicle, Lloyd C. Robinson, 56, of Florence, is in the Kenton County jail, charged with second-degree manslaughter while police continue investigating events leading up to the crash.

"In the police community, there's a huge amount of brotherhood," said Lt. Col. David Casey, spokesman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "All officers know on any given day they could be in the same situation."

The procession from Ludlow to Erlanger will close a six-mile stretch of southbound Dixie Highway and exit ramps from two interstate highways from about 11:15 a.m. to noon. All southbound lanes of Dixie Highway will be closed to vehicles not in the procession from St. Agnes Church in Fort Wright to just beyond the entrance to Forest Lawn Cemetery on Dixie Highway in Erlanger.

"It's going to basically shut down the exit ramps to southbound Dixie Highway from I-75," Fort Mitchell Police Chief Steve Hensley said.

Casey said officers from police departments throughout Kentucky and surrounding states will attend and participate in today's service.

"There will be a 21-gun salute and bagpipes will play 'Amazing Grace,'" Casey said.

Bryant was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 120 in Covington, Bradford Masonic Lodge 123 in Independence and the Kentucky Conservation Officers Association.

Survivors include his wife, Cheryl "Sherry" Bach Bryant; a daughter, Kiana Bryant; two brothers, James Daryl of Cincinnati and Ollie of Waskom, Texas; and a sister, Jo Julliot, of Jeffersonville, Ind.

Memorials can be made to the Kiana Bryant Educational Fund, c/o Heritage Bank, 1911 Dixie Highway, Fort Wright, Ky. 41011.