MIAMI TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Miami Township police officers gathered at Graceland Memorial Gardens on Thursday morning to mark 60 years since Constable Roy E. Carter died in the line of duty, laying a wreath at his grave in a ceremony the department has held to keep his memory alive.
Mulberry Kroger donated the wreath, which was inscribed with Carter’s name and the date of his death, according to the Miami Township Police Department.
Carter, a part-time constable appointed to the department on Sept. 8, 1964, was directing traffic at a crash scene on Branch Hill-Loveland Road on Aug. 6, 1966, when a driver disregarded his instructions and sped away, according to the Miami Township Police Department and the Officer Down Memorial Page. Carter pursued the car about two miles before the driver stopped, and the driver resisted arrest, striking Carter several times in the chest during the struggle.
Carter told a Clermont County sheriff’s deputy at the scene that the blows to his chest were making it difficult for him to breathe. He was taken to Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, where he died of an apparent heart attack about 20 minutes after arriving. He was 38.
Carter was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Lee County, Virginia, and his family later settled in Warren County. At the time of his death he lived in Milford, worked for General Electric and served as an officer with the East Milford Fire Department. His grave marker, in the Christus section of Graceland Memorial Gardens, notes that he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
He was survived by his wife, Irene, and daughters Bonnie, 16, and Pamela, 13. Area residents established a memorial fund at the time to assist his widow and daughters.
Carter is memorialized at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Panel 17-E, and at the Ohio Fallen Officers Memorial at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in London, Ohio, in addition to his grave at Graceland Memorial Gardens in Miami Township.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Miami Township Police Department.