Lt. David K. Dillon, of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, shown here second from right, died Saturday following an auto accident on North 1400 Road. This photograph was taken in 2006 as Dillon accompanied county commissioners on a tour of the minimum security and work-release area of the Douglas County Jail.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office released a statement about the death of Lt. David K. Dillon, 44, a deputy for the department’s Jail Operations. Dillon was off-duty and riding his bicycle shortly before 8 a.m. in the 1900 block of North 1400 Road, just one mile west of Eudora.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol accident report, Dillon was riding west on the road when a 20-year-old Eudora man driving a 2003 Oldsmobile struck him from behind, causing Dillon to fall into the north ditch of the road.

The 20-year-old driver was listed on the KHP accident report as Kyle William Van Meter.

“This is a tragic day for our office as Lt. Dillon was well-liked and well-respected professionally by our officers and those he worked with so diligently in the corrections field across the United States,” wrote Lt. Kari Wempe, sheriff’s spokeswoman, in the release. “Our hearts are heavy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his friends and, too, which each of our officers who were privileged to work with Lt. Dillon. He will be greatly missed.”

Douglas County Commission Chairman Bob Johnson said Dillon’s death was a tragedy.

“I knew him as a young and very promising officer in the sheriff’s department and a highly regarded deputy as well as administrator,” he said. “It’s truly a tragedy for his family and certainly a loss for the sheriff’s department and community.”

Arrangements with Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home are pending.

The highway patrol continues to investigate the accident.