Carlton R. Cherry Sr.

Georgia Department of Corrections — Atlanta, GA

Veteran → Accident

End of Watch February 27, 1997

Age 47

Tour of Duty 8 yrs

The Vigil Panel 143 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 37

Incident

Correctional Officer Carlton Cherry, Correctional Officer Wayne Griglen, Officer Eddie Davis, and Sergeant Tommie Goggins were killed in an automobile crash while returning from an Emergency Response Team training class. As they were driving on I-75, six miles south of Tifton, a tractor-trailer forced them off of the road and directly into the path of two tractor-trailers heading in the opposite direction. Both semis struck the van simultaneously. Two of the officers were thrown from the van, and the rest were trapped inside. Eight other officers who were riding in the van were hospitalized. The driver of the semi that caused the crash was charged with several offenses, including four counts of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. Officer Cherry was a United States Army veteran of the Vietnam War. He had served with the Georgia Department of Corrections for eight years and was assigned to the Rutledge Correctional Institution. He is buried at Fort Benning Main Post Cemetery at Fort Benning, Muscogee County, Georgia.

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Permanent identifier: BO-US-GA-3740F3F4
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Correctional Officer Cherry gave the Georgia Department of Corrections 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of Georgia, and for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Georgia Department of Corrections

Type Corrections

Location Atlanta, GA

Platform Identity gdcorr.fulton.ga.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch February 27, 1997

Tour of Duty 8 yrs

Age 47

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Military Service

Carlton R. Cherry Sr. served in the U.S. Army (1977â1989) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Correctional Officer Carlton R. Cherry Sr. is one of 1 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,759 officers honored here.

In GA, 264 of 904 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 29.2% of this state's fallen. That is 29.2 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Georgia Department of Corrections, 8 of 38 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 21.1% of this agency's fallen.

Georgia Department of Corrections

of 38 officers

21.1% Accident

GA — Statewide

264

of 904 officers

29.2% Accident

Nationwide

of 97,759 officers

0% Accident