Memphis Police Department Patrolman
Rufus L. Parkinson was walked his beat along the southern
levee from Front Street on the afternoon of November 1, 1894. A
woman stopped him and pointed out a man who had robbed her. As
Officer Parkinson approached the bandit fled and the policeman gave
chase. The felon drew a revolver and shot the officer in the left
side. Parkinson drew his sidearm and fired at the robber as he ran
east toward Front. The patrolman continued the chase. At Beale and
Front a rider stopped and offered his horse to Parkinson. When the
policeman tried to mount the horse he was in such pain that he had
to be helped to the ground. Soon the patrol wagon arrived filled
with lawmen. Parkinson asked to be taken to his home on North Second
Street. The Lincoln County, Tennessee, native had been on the police
force only 10 months. He was bleeding internally and doctors were
unable to help. Patrolman Parkinson died at around three in the
morning.
The history of law enforcement in Tennessee
is filled with the sacrifice of fallen officers. Nearly 500 men and women of Tennessee law
enforcement have given their lives in the line of duty to assure the safety of their fellow citizens.
The stories of only a few can be told here, but the citizens of Tennessee are in debt to all.
Memphis Police Lieutenant Vincent "Luke"
Lucarini commanded the Traffic Department of the MPD on August 10, 1921,
when armed bandits robbed a payroll, killing a guard and Memphis Patrolman
Polk Caraway. Lieutenant Lucarini and others gave chase east from Memphis. A
posse gathered along the Poplar Pike near Collierville hoping to capture the
felons. They mistakenly fired on the car of pursuing lawmen. Lieutenant Luke
was struck in the head with a load of buckshot and killed instantly. He left
a wife and a 12-year-old son.
TENNESSEE LAWMAN
Honoring the Men and Women behind
the Badge
Nashville Police Department Chauffeur John R. Leathers stands
in front of police headquarters in 1914 by the Patrol Wagon that was
draped to transport the pallbearers for the funerals of Auto Policeman
John Ryan and Patrolman Irving Wright. Ryan and Wright were the first
two Nashville officer to be killed as a result of a motor vehicle
incident. Auto Patrolman "Driver John" Ryan was teaching Patrolman
Wright to drive the department's automobile.
Members of the Highway Patrol and other lawmen
gathered to honor Patrolman Earl Hicks. Hicks was killed in a Knox County
accident on Monday, June 1, 1936, while on patrol.
Copyright © 2005-2006, Tennessee Lawman
Motorcycle duty was dangerous and claimed the lives of
many patrolmen on traffic patrol. Twelve of the first fourteen Tennessee
Highway Patrol officers killed in the line were killed on motorcycles, all
in the first decade and a half of the Patrol's existence.
The sacrifice of life in the line of duty represents a
constant of police work through the years, the willingness of the men and
women in law enforcement to stand between their fellow citizens and dangers.
The sacrifice of those who die in the line of duty is the ultimate symbol of
society’s debt to the men and women who wear the badge.
The memory of those killed in the line of duty must be a
living reminder of the heroic deeds of those who choose this work. Each
tragic incident that takes the life of an officer in the line of duty leaves
in its wake pain and emptiness in the lives of family members, friends and
colleagues of the fallen officer.
Memphis Police Department
Mounted Patrolmen A. L. White was one of officer in the mounted unit formed
in 1911. On April 13, 1919, Patrolmen A. L. White and P. C. Hoffman went to
investigate a stolen bicycle The trail led the two to a shanty at the
rear of a grocery. Hoffman watched the front door as White entered the back.
The room was dimly lit by an oil lamp and Officer White did not see the
suspect reach for an automatic pistol in his belt. A single shot struck
Patrolman A. L. White over the left eye, killing him instantly.
Lexington Patrolman Arthur
Gurley was shot to death on the morning of August 6, 1954. Patrolman Gurley,
Chief of Police Clovis Stanfill and Patrolman Isom McPeake approached a
candidate for Henderson County sheriff who became angry after learning he
had lost the election. The armed man opened fire with a .45 automatic
pistol, killing Patrolman Gurley and wounding Chief Stanfill. The gunman and
his brother were tracked down the following day a posse of 50 lawmen led by
Highway Patrol Captain Noah A. Robinson and Troopers Melvin Holland and John
Lumpkin.
The Clarksville Patrolman K.
Leonard “Cowboy” Nipple and two firemen were on the scene of a laundry fire
about 5:30 a.m. on August 9, 1945. They stood in the doorway of the boiler
room of the two story brick building when a wall collapsed. Policeman Nipple
was killed instantly. The 35-year-old officer was a native of Kansas and had
been on the Clarksville force for three years.
Metropolitan Nashville
Police Lieutenant John Wesley Smith III, 39, died in an automobile accident
on May 14, 1980, while en route to a murder scene. He lost control of his
police car on a rain-slick street and hit an oncoming vehicle. Smith had
frequented police headquarters since 1948, when he was eight years old. His
father was among the first group of black officers to serve on the force.
The 18-year police veteran, with an ever present half-chewed stogie, was one
of the most well-thought-of officers in the department. Black officers
called Smith “the Godfather.”
Metropolitan Nashville
Officer Tom Dozier bends over Officer Thomas E. Johnson, while Officer Jim
Ball checks his pulse. The incident shook the police force and resulted in
the death of two officers in the line of duty. It happened on a cold and raw
January night in 1968. Officer Thomas E. Johnson was dispatched on January
16 to apprehend subjects who had just attempted to pass a forged money
order. He spotted the suspect’s vehicle and attempted to execute a traffic
stop. The vehicle moved onto a dead-end street. As Officer Johnson exited
his patrol car, one of the five occupants in the suspect vehicle opened fire
with a 30-30 rifle, striking Johnson in the chest and killing him.
Officer Charles Wayne Thomasson, en route to back up Officer Johnson, was
met by gunfire when he turned onto the street. Officer Thomasson lay
seriously wounded on the ground, when one of the suspects walked over and
shot him several more times in the lower torso. The mortally wounded
policeman struggled to his radio and called for help. (Nashville Banner
photo)
Tennessee Highway Patrol
Trooper John Gregory Mann was killed when he was struck by a vehicle on
January 1, 2001. Trooper Mann was chasing a suspected carjacker on foot
following a vehicle pursuit when the suspect crashed into a retaining wall
on I-24 near Nashville. Trooper Mann was able to catch the suspect on foot
and was in the process of arresting him when another driver struck both men.
The trooper was killed instantly. The subject who struck Trooper Mann fled
the scene. Trooper Mann, a 16-year veteran, was awarded the Medal of Valor
posthumously.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office lost two
officers in a single incident on Thursday, September 14, 1882. Sheriff
William T. Cates, left, was newly elected. He and Deputy Sheriff John Conway
boarded a northbound train with three convicted murders being transported to
prison. The train stopped in Sweet Water, Tennessee, and three men boarded.
One, the brother of one of the prisoners, walked up behind Deputy Conway,
drew a pistol and killed the lawman. The gunman took the keys from the
deputy and released his brother and the other two prisoners. Sheriff Cates
rushed the men. He was shot several times and killed.
The three gunmen and the released brother went to the engine car forced the
motorman to start the train. After passing through three towns without
stopping, the four jumped from the engine and fled on horseback. In
Knoxville, the other two prisoners surrendered to officers.
