102225...R OSP SERVICE 5...Youngstown...10-22-25...The American flag that was draped over the casket of OSP Trooper Nicholas P. Cayton his folded and presented to the family during the memorial service...by R. Michael Semple

YOUNGSTOWN — There is very little that can compare with seeing about 600 law enforcement officers lining Armed Forces Boulevard near Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University in order to salute the coffin of Nicholas Cayton as it passed by.

Cayton was killed Oct. 16 when his Ohio State Highway Patrol cruiser with flashing lights was hit from behind by a truck on state Route 11 in Canfield while Cayton, 40, was assisting another truck driver.

Seeing that many officers — most in black uniforms — inside the Zidian Family Arena at YSU was impressive enough. But when they stood silently and reverently in multiple rows on both sides of the route as 200 bagpipers played “Amazing Grace,” the scene took on epic proportions.

The Celebration of Life Wednesday afternoon not only included the playing of “Taps,” a flyover and folding and presentation of the U.S. flag, but it featured remarks by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a representative from the Ohio Army National Guard military police company that Cayton served with in Afghanistan in 2013 and a longtime friend from the Carrollton area where Cayton grew up.

PASTOR

But Pastor Duane Jesse of Zion Lutheran Church in Youngstown where the Cayton family worships, provided some insight into how Cayton’s service grew into a public event.

“Initially, Lynsey approached me about presiding at a small, intimate service with family and friends. That was 600 people,” he said of Cayton’s wife. “Then I was asked to preside at this public ceremony, about which she warned me that hundreds might attend. And I told her that as part of the community, we need that time, too,” he said.

It appears that about 1,000 people were in attendance.

“Nick and his trooper colleagues and all first responders deserve our respect and appreciation for the honorable work that they do for the benefit of all of us. I acknowledge it can be thankless work until we need one of you,” he said.

“And when things go terribly wrong, like it did last Thursday, we the community need to process our grief too, so thank you for giving this time to us. I know it’s a lot,” he said. The badge is “a promise to protect, to serve, to stand between danger and safety. Nick lived that promise every day. And in his life and yes in his sacrifice, we see a truth deeper than any uniform or creed,” he said.

He cited from the Gospel of John: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has a greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jesse said “Love is more than a feeling. It’s a choice, a daily commitment to serve, to stand for what is right. That is the kind of love Nick gave. He loved his family, his life Lynsey, his children, Turner and Romy with every breath of his body. He loved his parents, his sisters, friends, his community, grandma and mom.”

He said Cayton “loved coaching football, making people laugh, playing the bagpipes, being DJ Nick. But the truest reflection of his love was in the way he served, whether deployed overseas or patrolling Ohio’s highways, Nick’s heart was centered on helping others.”

STATE OFFICIAL

Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson said Cayton was “a great man,” and “one of the characteristics of great men is that they are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect others. It didn’t matter if it was in Iraq, Afghanistan or his service for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Nick showed his greatness by helping and protecting those who needed helped and protected.

“I promise you there are people alive today who would have been dead but for Nick’s service,” he said. “I promise you that during his career, he took reckless and dangerous people off the street before they hurt or killed others. Our families, our community is safer because of Nick’s service, what he did in his short life, and it matters so much to the people that he served with, our state and our nation.”

HIGHWAY PATROL LEADER

Col Charles Jones, Ohio State Highway Patrol superintendent, gave prepared remarks to news reporters and answered questions before the service and also gave remarks during the service.

He called him “a devoted public servant, a courageous military veteran and a loving husband and father. His death in the line of duty is a profound tragedy that touches every member of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the broader law enforcement community.

“Our hearts are with his wife, his two young children and all who knew him and loved him. We feel this loss deeply and personally,” he said.

“The outpouring of support from law enforcement agencies across Ohio and the nation has been extraordinary. Their presence here today is a powerful reminder that we are never alone in our grief or in our mission. The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s core value of family is more than a word. It’s a promise,” he said.

“We are standing with Trooper Cayton’s family now and always, ensuring that they are embraced, supported and cared for as part of our extended patrol family. We will honor Trooper Cayton by sharing his story with new recruits as a model of service and sacrifice. Trooper Cayton exemplified the highest ideals of duty, honor and commitment, both in uniform and in his personal life. As we grieve, we also remember the strength of his character and the impact he made.

Today is a moment not only of sorrow but honoring a hero who served with a purpose.”

When Jones was asked by reporters if there is a lesson to be learned by Cayton’s death, he said:

“In Ohio we have a move over and slow down. I would say the lesson is to respect our public safety vehicles that are pulled off the side of the road. If you can’t move over, then slow down. That’s what the law is designed for, and that would be my plea for everyone, all the motoring public, slow down and move over.”

When asked about the support from law enforcement across the country, he said, “It’s very important when these tragedies happen that the law enforcement community comes together and we have seen this time and time again when these tragedies happen.”

For instance, among the seas of law enforcement officers at the service were ones from the Louisiana State Police.

When the outdoor portion of the service was over, the roadways near the university filled with police vehicles heading back home. In-person classes at the university were held online during the time of the service.

DEWINE

DeWine talked about Cayton’s overseas service in the Ohio National Guard, saying a fellow guardsman said that Cayton “not only maintained a positive outlook” in difficult situations, he “made people laugh. His humor was infectious, if not at times irreverent. “Often Nick just made the tough times bearable,” the guardsman said of Cayton. “He always, always had your back” and was “so reliable.”

CARROLLTON ROOTS

Cayton was 2004 graduate of Carrolton High School, about 40 minutes south of Sebring, where he excelled in football, basketball, and baseball, according to his obituary. He and his wife had one son and one daughter.

Cayton joined the Ohio Army National Guard in 2007 while attending Youngstown State University. He was deployed twice overseas, first in 2008 to Iraq with the 583rd Military Police Company and then in 2013 to Afghanistan with the 838th Military Police Company and finished his service as a staff sergeant in 2014.

In 2010, he completed YSU’s Police Academy and later earned his criminal justice degree.

He became an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper in 2012, working first at the Lisbon post, and then transferring to Canfield. He was named “Trooper of the Year” for his outstanding service in 2022.

He had a gift with catchy phrases, dance moves and taking over the music at parties as “DJ Nick,” his obituary states.

He enjoyed coaching for the Canfield Little Cardinals football team and spent many years playing the bagpipes with the Steel Valley Pipes and Drums and for the State Patrol.

Cayton responded to state Route 11 northbound in Canfield after a report of a disabled 2024 semi tractor-trailer in the right lane. Upon making contact with the driver, Nelson De Jesus Herrera Vasquez, 65, of Florida, Cayton determined that the Kenworth had struck an item in the road.

According to the OSHP, Cayton was sitting in his cruiser with its emergency overhead lights activated when a 2007 Mack Granite, driven by Ryan Rach, 35, of Canfield, traveling north, crashed into the back of his cruiser.

The cruiser traveled forward into the back of Vasquez’s disabled tractor-trailer, also striking Vasquez, who was standing outside of his vehicle.

Highway Patrol officials said Wednesday that the crash remains under investigation and that no new details are available. No charges appear to have been filed against Rach.

Brent Tharp, who grew up with Caytos in the Carrollton area, said he was amazed at the range of things his friend could do such as learning how to play the guitar and violin, and skateboard.

“Nick continued doing those things and many other things all throughout high school, and he excelled at all of them, roller blading, ice skating, snowboarding, wave boarding and water skiing. He was phenomenal,” he said.

“It’s because of these activities Nick accumulated numerous friends from all walks of life,” he said. “Nick could walk off of the football field and be the most popular person there, then travel to another place and be the most popular skater kid there, and be the lead guitarist that night at a concert and be the most popular person there,” he said.