Edward Whitledge, dogs, served with gallantry

The sheriff's deputy and Vietnam veteran, with his partners, had some harrowing experiences.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: October 20, 2009 - 9:45 PM

He grew up in St. Paul's North End area, the son of a Ford mechanic, and while he, too, would be handy with tools, Edward Whitledge made his name in the military and Ramsey County law enforcement.

He would receive awards for valor, including a Bronze Star in Vietnam, but see tragedy, too.

Whitledge, 58, died unexpectedly last week of a heart attack.

On Tuesday, his daughter Colleen Reisdorf said that well-wishers, to a man, have told her in recent days how "Ed would give you the shirt off his back."

"He served," she said. "It's what he did. He served in 'Nam. He served his community. He served his family."

In 1994, as a deputy in the sheriff's office's K-9 unit, Whitledge lost his canine partner, Bud, to a shotgun blast in a Little Canada parking garage.

"Instantly," court records state, Whitledge and a colleague fired upon the gunman, Shawn Mettler, 20, emptying their magazines, killing him. They would be cleared of excessive force allegations.

Four months after the shootings, at a ceremony welcoming his new K-9 partner, Duke, Whitledge spoke of struggling with the "whys" and "hows" of an incident ending in a man's death.

There was the matter of losing Bud, too, he told the Star Tribune: "I missed having him breathing down my back from his seat in the squad," Whitledge said. "I missed the sound of his feet in the hallway."

Whitledge and Duke retired together in 1999, a few years earlier than the deputy -- battling various aches and pains -- had hoped, Reisdorf said. They were feted with a surprise party attended by then-Gov. Jesse Ventura.

After Bud's death, Whitledge and Duke engaged in "some pretty wild chases," Reisdorf recalled. But like her father, she added, she was pleased he never again had to face a moment like in Little Canada, when he and deputy Thomas Haltiner responded to a call about shots fired and found Mettler hiding in a garage stall.

The man and dog were killed after Bud was sent into the stall.

"That's not something you get over easily -- if ever," Reisdorf said. "But he made peace with it."

Since retirement, Whitledge and his wife, Anne, a former New Brighton police officer, had a daughter, Mariah. Whitledge, using skills passed on by his father, also built a cabin in Palisade, Minn., Colleen Reisdorf said. There, he spent long weekends fishing.

Recently, Whitledge gave his 1966 Chevelle Malibu -- once fully restored but now in need of repair -- to his eldest grandson, Richie Reisdorf. Now, his daughter said, her brothers, Jeffrey and Jason, and her husband and her son plan to grab tools inherited from Whitledge and his father and begin to get the Malibu gleaming again -- in tribute to her father.

In addition to his wife, daughters and sons, Whitledge also is survived by another daughter, Gillian; another son, Rick, and six grandchildren. Duke, his last K-9 unit partner, died in 2005, after fathering puppies that would go on to become police dogs in Iowa.

A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Bernard's Catholic Church, 187 W. Geranium Av., St. Paul.

Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109

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