Protecting the President: The Ultimate Sacrifice

Protecting the president is no small task. It takes tens of thousands of law enforcement officers and billions of dollars each year to ensure any president's safety.

The Secret Service is the elite agency tasked with the mission of presidential protection, but they couldn't succeed in that mission without the critical assistance of officers from local, state, and other federal agencies across the country. From providing motorcade escorts, traffic control, aerial support, and inaugural security, these officers step up to ensure nothing happens to the president in their towns.

And because of that fact, local, state, and federal officers are put in harms way. Nineteen law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty while assigned to presidential protection details or by offenders who planned to harm the president.

Officer Leslie Coffelt

One of the most widely known cases was the 1950 murder of Officer Leslie Coffelt, who served with the White House Police Force (the predecessor to today's Secret Service Uniformed Division). Officer Coffelt was shot and killed during a daring raid on the Blair House by Puerto Rican nationalists who were attempting to assassinate President Truman. Despite being mortally wounded himself, Officer Coffelt was able to return fire, killing one of the would-be assassins and effectively stopping the attack.

Officer Neal Ramsburg

A much lesser known assassination attempt that resulted in the murder of a police officer occurred on February 22, 1974, when a man attempted to hijack a plane at BWI Airport with the intent of flying it into the White House to kill President Nixon. Airport Police Officer Neal Ramsburg was fatally shot by the man as he attempted to stop the hijacking. Another police officer shot and wounded the suspect, who then committed suicide.

Incidents such as the Blair House attack and attempted hijacking are the exception, rather than the rule. The majority of officers who have fallen on presidential protective details have been killed in accidental situations: Motorcycle accidents, vehicle crashes, heart attacks, etc. And most weren't even Secret Service agents or officers. Of the 19 LEOs who have been killed, only six served with the Secret Service or White House Police Force.

We salute all the brave men and women who sacrifice so much to ensure our nation's presidents are always safe. We especially honor these 19 men who gave their lives doing so:

Operative William Craig	1902-09-03	Vehicle collision	T. Roosevelt
United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service, US
City Marshal R. S. St. Clair	1917-12-21	Gunfire	W. Wilson
Malden Police Department, MO
Captain Edward J. Masterson	1922-07-04	Fall	W. Harding
Marion City Police Department, OH
Officer Edward Baerwald	1928-08-15	Fall	C. Coolidge
Wausau Police Department, WI
Officer William Flack	1928-11-01	Motorcycle accident	A. Smith *
Kearny Police Department, NJ
Inspector Phillip C. Via	1929-01-11	Motorcycle accident	C. Coolidge
Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles - Enforcement Division, VA
Operative James A. Hollinger	1936-07-26	Heart attack	F. Roosevelt
United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service, US
Operative August Adolph "Gus" Gennerich	1936-12-01	Heart attack	F. Roosevelt
United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service, US
Officer Leslie William Coffelt	1950-11-01	Gunfire	H. Truman
White House Police Force, US
Special Agent Thomas B. Shipman	1963-10-14	Heart attack	J. Kennedy
United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service, US
Officer J. D. Tippit	1963-11-22	Gunfire	J. Kennedy
Dallas Police Department, TX
Special Agent J. Clifford Dietrich	1973-05-26	Aircraft accident	R. Nixon
United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service, US
Officer George Neal Ramsburg	1974-02-22	Gunfire	R. Nixon
Maryland Aviation Administration Police Department, MD
Deputy Kevin D. Mathews	1992-03-06	Motorcycle accident	P. Tsongas *
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, FL
Criminal Investigator Manuel Zurita VII	1998-01-06	Boating accident	W. Clinton
United States Department of the Treasury - Customs Service - Office of Investigations, US
Detective John Michael Gibson	1998-07-24	Gunfire	W. Clinton
United States Capitol Police, US
Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut	1998-07-24	Gunfire	W. Clinton
United States Capitol Police, US
Officer Steve Bastidas Favela	2006-11-26	Motorcycle accident	G.W. Bush
Honolulu Police Department, HI
Officer Germaine Casey	2007-08-27	Motorcycle accident	G.W. Bush
Rio Rancho Police Department, NM
Senior Corporal Victor Antonio Lozada Sr.	2008-02-22	Motorcycle accident	H. Clinton *
Dallas Police Department, TX
Police Officer Bruce St. Laurent	2012-09-09	Motorcycle accident	B. Obama
Jupiter Police Department, FL

* Presidential candidate

Editor's note: This article was originally published on the ODMP Blog on November 5, 2010. It was updated on September 10, 2012, following the death of Police Officer Bruce St. Laurent, of the Jupiter (Florida) Police Department.

August 2012 Law Enforcement Fatality Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4th, 2012

Fairfax, Va. - Fourteen law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty in August 2012, marking the second most deadly month of the year. In total, 76 law enforcement officers have fallen in the line of duty since January 1st, 2012.

Most notably, in August 2012:

• Fourteen (14) law enforcement officers (LEOs) were killed, compared to 15 in August 2011
• Nine LEOs were shot and killed, the most in any single month in 2012
• Two LEOs were killed in vehicle collisions
• Two LEOs suffered fatal heart attacks
• One LEO was killed in an airplane crash
• There were two multiple-fatality incidents in which a total of four LEOs were slain

Details on every line of duty death in 2012 can be obtained at http://www.ODMP.org/search/year/2012

The following charts are provided for reference and can be incorporated into any law enforcement training material or media reports. Please cite ODMP.

Law Enforcement Deaths by State in 2012 YTD

Not displayed: Washington, DC, had one (1) death; Puerto Rico had four (4) deaths

Comparison of Law Enforcement Deaths, 2012 vs 2011 YTD

Causes of Law Enforcement Deaths in 2012 YTD

The data provided in this report is preliminary and subject to change based on final determinations of line of duty deaths. Accurate as of September 4, 2012.


About the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP)
ODMP is a non-profit organization dedicated to remembering all fallen law enforcement officers by creating permanent online memorials, providing instant line of duty death notifications, and keeping cop-killers behind bars through its popular No Parole for Cop Killers initiative. With over 4-million unique visitors and 40-million page views annually, it is one of the most visited law enforcement web sites, and is referenced daily by law enforcement officers, leaders, and supporters nationwide. For more information, visit www.ODMP.org.


About the Crime Museum
The Crime Museum opened its doors in 2008 with a mission to educate and provide guests memorable insight into our Nation’s history of crime and judicial system. The museum examines law enforcement, forensic science, crime scene investigation (CSI) and the consequences of committing a crime. The museum is filled with over 100 interactives and highlights a fundamental commitment to capture the audience through an entertaining and educational experience. The Crime Museum is located on 7th Street NW between E and F Streets in downtown Washington, D.C. at the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro (Arena exit). Learn more at www.crimemuseum.org.