West Plains, MO : 1 person killed in West Plains crash on U.S. Highway 2, 3 miles west of Airway Heights on Wednesday, 19th December 2018

A man killed Wednesday morning in a three-vehicle collision was a military veteran with a storied history in the armed forces, one that included a firm handshake with America’s former commander-in-chief.

Ryan Labreck, 36, died, Washington state troopers said, when an allegedly impaired man rammed into the back of his 2016 Subaru Crosstrek, pushing it into oncoming traffic on U.S. Highway 2, 3 miles west of Airway Heights.

John Chelminiek, spokesman for Waste Management, said Labreck was hit just outside the Graham Road Landfill, where he was employed. According to a Spokesman-Review photograph taken in 2010, Labreck served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He was pictured folding a flag during a rehearsal for a May service at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake.

He was also stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, where he had the opportunity to meet the president. In a short news story posted in 2009 to the base’s website, he is pictured shaking then-President Barack Obama’s hand during the inauguration in Washington, D.C.

“Senior Airman Ryan Labreck, 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron, shakes President Barack Obama’s hand following the presidential inauguration Jan. 20,” the caption reads. “Airman Labreck was one of seven Airmen tasked by the 92nd Air Refueling wing to support the inauguration.”

A representative of Fairchild Air Force Base was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

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