Ducey orders flags at half-staff to honor John Lewis, Bryan Boatman

PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey ordered flags at half-staff this weekend to honor John Lewis, a U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader, and Bryan Boatman, a helicopter pilot who died earlier this month fighting the Polles Fire.

The flags at all state buildings will fly at half-staff through Sunday, Ducey said in a press release Saturday.

Lewis is being honored through Saturday, while Boatman will be honored from sunrise to sunset on Sunday.

Lewis was the youngest member of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that had the greatest impact on the civil rights movement.

Lewis died Friday after battling pancreatic cancer since 2019.

Boatman was killed July 8 in a helicopter crash while helping firefighters contain the Polles Fire in the Tonto National Forest in Gila County.

Boatman is survived by his wife and 8-year-old child.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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