The Officer Down Memorial Page: August 2016 End of Watch Report

In August 2016, ten law enforcement officers lost their lives in the line of duty.  Of those ten line of duty deaths, half were the result of felonious gunfire.  Four line of duty deaths were motor vehicle accidents: three in automobiles and one motorcycle accident.  The final line of duty death in August 2016 was the result of an officer being struck by a vehicle.

The ten deaths in August bring the yearly total for 2016 up to 79.  Although overall line of duty deaths are down by 7% over last year and auto-related deaths are down by 6%, gunfire deaths, numbering 37 at this point, are up 61% over the same time in 2015.

The Officer Down Memorial Page offers our sincere condolences to the families, friends, and agencies who lost a loved one in August 2016.  Please take a moment to read their memorials and Remember the Fallen:

Sergeant Shawn Miller
West Des Moines Police Department, IA

Police Officer Justin Scherlen
Amarillo Police Department, TX

Special Agent De'Greaun Frazier
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, TN

Corporal Bill Cooper
Sebastian County Sheriff's Office, AR

Border Patrol Agent Manuel Alvarez
US Dept of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, United States Border Patrol

Police Officer Jose Chavez
Hatch Police Department, NM

Police Officer Timothy Kevin Smith
Eastman Police Department, GA

Police Officer Shannon Brown
Fenton Police Department, LA

Police Officer Kenny Moats
Maryville Police Department, TN

Senior Police Officer Leander Frank
Navajo Division of Public Safety, Tribal Reserve

Officer Down Memorial Page: End of Watch Report June 2016

The month of June 2016 saw eleven line of duty deaths across the country.  Two of those were due to gunfire, two to a heart attack, and seven were auto-related: 1 motorcycle accident, two car accidents, one vehicle pursuit, and three vehicular assaults. Of the eleven fallen officers who gave their lives in the line of duty in June 2016, ten were men and one was a woman.  Eleven agencies lost officers across five different states.

At the halfway point in the year, line of duty deaths stand at 51 and are, gratefully, down 21% as compared to 2015.

The Officer Down Memorial Page extends our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and agencies who lost a loved one in June 2016.  Read their memorials and Remember the Fallen:

Sergeant Derrick Mingo
Winnsboro Police Department, LA

Police Officer Verdell Smith, Sr.
Memphis Police Department, TN

Police Officer Natasha Maria Hunter
New Orleans Police Department, LA

Deportation Officer Brian Beliso
United States Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Government

 Police Officer Endy Nddiobong Ekpanya
Pearland Police Department, TX

Agent Gilberto Colón-Leon
Puerto Rico Police Department, PR

Police Officer Michael Jason Katherman
San Jose Police Department, CA

Police Officer Zachary Tyler Larnerd
Gainesboro Police Department, TN

Sergeant Stacey Allen Baumgartner
Patton Village Police Department, TX

Deputy Sheriff David Francis Michel, Jr
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, LA

Deputy Sheriff Martin Tase Sturgill II
Humphreys County Sheriff's Department, TN

Texas Suffers 13th Fallen Officer This Year

At approximately 1:00 am MDT yesterday morning, two El Paso patrolmen were dispatched to a non-emergency call. As they drove through an intersection on the way to the location their patrol car was struck so violently by a drunk driver that it was pushed into a nearby utility pole.

Patrolman
Karl McDonough

The crash left the driver of the patrol car with very serious injuries. The passenger, Patrolman Karl McDonough, became the 13th law enforcement officer this year to be killed in the line of duty in Texas.

Even though California is the state with the country's largest population (by 1/3 more than Texas), since 2007 Texas has led the nation in the number of law enforcement deaths annually. In 2007 alone, 24 local, state, and federal LEOs have lost their lives there.

In addition to the "common" dangers of drunk drivers, our brothers and sisters in Texas also face increasing dangers posed by the illegal narcotics and human smuggling operations and the violent subculture that controls it. With the additional resources being thrown at the border by the Department of Homeland Security, it is inevitable that cartels will push back, leading to increased assaults on our officers, both on the border and in Texas' interior counties and cities.

We urge officers everywhere to always work with a heightened sense of awareness, but can't stress this point enough to our warriors in Texas and the other border states. We do this in the memory of those Texas lawmen who we have lost this year and in years prior:

Police Officer Craig Story	Arlington Police Department, TX	2010-01-13
Officer Timothy Joseph Zurovetz	Forest Hill Police Department, TX	2010-03-24
Constable John W. Brown	Calhoun County Constable's Office - Precinct 5, TX	2010-04-10
Deputy Sheriff Jacob Rene Rayos	Reeves County Sheriff's Department, TX	2010-04-11
Officer Rodney Holder	Abilene Police Department, TX	2010-04-29
Police Officer Eydelmen Mani	Houston Police Department, TX	2010-05-19
Border Patrol Agent Mark Van Doren	United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Border Patrol, US	2010-05-24
Deputy Sheriff Eddie Wotipka	Harris County Sheriff's Department, TX	2010-06-10
Police Officer Craig Shaw	Lancaster Police Department, TX	2010-06-20
Police Officer Leonard Reed	Cedar Park Police Department, TX	2010-08-18
Corrections Officer Kellie Pena	Texas Department of Criminal Justice, TX	2010-09-03
Corporal David Ralph Slaton	Texas Department of Public Safety - Texas Highway Patrol, TX	2010-09-20
Patrolman Karl R. McDonough	El Paso Police Department, TX	2010-10-13