James Combs

Letcher County Constable's Office — Whitesburg, KY

Cardiac

End of Watch September 16, 1951

Age 56

The Vigil Panel 87 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 4

Incident

Constable Jim Combs suffered a fatal heart attack after two men fired several rounds at him in Isom.

The two men were arrested and charged with murder and shooting with intent to kill. The first man was acquitted and charges against the second man were subsequently dropped.

Constable Combs was survived by his wife.

Survivors

Constable Combs was survived by his wife.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-KY-D494622E
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Constable Combs served with the Letcher County Constable's Office.
Thank you for your service to the Whitesburg community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Constable Combs.

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

Agency

Department Letcher County Constable's Office

Location Whitesburg, KY

Platform Identity lcco.letcher.ky.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch September 16, 1951

Age 56

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Constable James Combs is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In KY, 44 of 983 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.5% of this state's fallen. That is 0.5 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Letcher County Constable's Office, 1 of 5 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 20% of this agency's fallen.

Letcher County Constable's Office

of 5 officers

20% Cardiac

KY — Statewide

of 983 officers

4.5% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac