There’s a black and blue ribbon wrapped around the front of the Davenport Police Department, a black band on the officer’s badges.
“It is a brotherhood and it affects us deeply when a brother passes away,” said Davenport Police Chief Frank Donchez.
Especially when that brother is Sgt. Kevin Marxen.
“He spent 35 years doing this job which he loved. He loved being a police officer and yet in light of the negativity that we see and deal with, I don't know that I've ever known a more positive person,” said Donchez.
Marxen, known to his fellow officers as “Rudy,” was the 2nd Shift Patrol Supervisor and a 36-year veteran of the Davenport Police Department. Even though he was off Tuesday, February 18, 2014, he stopped into the 2nd shift’s briefing to wish the officers a safe tour.
“You never know when it's going to be the last time you see somebody and unfortunately it was for those officers,” said Donchez.
Marxen was finishing up his regular bridge run,when he collapsed from an apparent heart attack on the Iowa bound Centennial Bridge walkway. Marxen was transported to Trinity Hospital Rock where he later died.
“He was the picture of health, you know, he ate properly, he exercised religiously, he had a positive outlook, all the things that you would not think of someone that would just pass away so suddenly,” said Donchez.
He was the father of two.
“I can't even imagine what they're going through, to lose a dad and such a great guy. I just can't even imagine,” said Donchez.
And an ideal role model to the younger officers he worked with.
“His training and his knowledge, that he transferred to those young officers. I have no doubt, that he will have made them safer as they go through their careers, and made them better police officers for it,” said Donchez.
As many as 60 off-duty officers were at the hospital Tuesday with Marxen and his family. Marxen was also part of the Scott County Mental Health and Law Enforcement Task Force and spent 20 years on the Emergency Services Team.