John W. Duty

St. Joseph Police Department — St. Joseph, MO

Veteran → Accident

End of Watch September 15, 1991

Age 55

Tour of Duty 27 yrs

The Vigil Panel 137 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 12

Incident

Officer John Duty succumbed to injuries sustained three days prior when he was struck by a car during a traffic stop in the 2800 block of Jule Street. He was speaking to the driver of the vehicle he had stopped when another vehicle struck his motorcycle and then him. He remained in a coma until passing away three days later. The driver who struck him was charged with carless driving and failure to maintain proper control. Officer Duty had served with the St. Joseph Police Department for 27 years and was well known for his work with the Officer Friendly school safety patrol program.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife, two sons, daughter, mother, brother, and sister.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MO-D8F9C337
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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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Navy. One record, 2 gates. John is one person.

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Tributes

27 years. You could have gone home.
Officer Duty gave the St. Joseph Police Department 27 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the St. Joseph community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Duty.

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

Agency

Department St. Joseph Police Department

Type Police Department

Location St. Joseph, Buchanan County, MO

Platform Identity sjpd.buchanan.mo.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch September 15, 1991

Tour of Duty 27 yrs

Age 55

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Military Service

John W. Duty served in the U.S. Navy (1953â1954) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Officer John W. Duty is one of 1 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,772 officers honored here.

In MO, 237 of 813 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 St. Joseph Police Department, 5 of 13 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 38.5% of this agency's fallen.

St. Joseph Police Department

of 13 officers

38.5% Accident

MO — Statewide

237

of 813 officers

29.2% Accident

Nationwide

of 97,772 officers

0% Accident