Incident
Assistant Chief Johnny Patterson succumbed to injuries sustained on January 13th, 2022, when he was struck by a car while directing traffic on Noah Curtis Street in front of Shannon Primary School.
He was directing traffic at the end of the school day when a vehicle struck the back of his patrol car, which was then pushed into him. He was transported to North Mississippi Medical Center where he remained on life support until his organs were donated on January 21st, 2022.
Assistant Chief Patterson had served in law enforcement for 28 years and was assigned to the Lee County School District as a school resource officer.
Assistant Chief Johnny Patterson succumbed to injuries sustained on January 13th, 2022, when he was struck by a car while directing traffic on Noah Curtis Street in front of Shannon Primary School.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife, two sons, and several grandchildren.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MS-827B7941- 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
28 years. You could have gone home.
Assistant Chief Patterson gave the Verona Police Department 28 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Verona community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Assistant Chief Patterson.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Assistant Chief Johnny Patterson is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In MS, 89 of 349 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 25.5% of this state's fallen. That is 5.5 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
At Verona Police Dept., 1 of 2 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 50% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Johnny Patterson's cause is highlighted.
How Johnny Patterson Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Johnny Patterson is highlighted in Jan.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
1 officer from Verona Police Dept. are honored on badge.nw.
