Roll of Honor
Incident
Police Officer Linda Smith succumbed to the injuries she received on November 10, 1987, when her patrol car was struck by a newspaper delivery truck. Officer Smith and her partner were assisting other officers during a pursuit of two suspected car thieves at 3:30 a.m. when their car was hit at Lonyo Avenue and Michigan Avenue and burst into flames. Both were pinned inside. Responding officers pulled them from the car and rushed them to the burn center at Detroit Receiving Hospital, where she died from her wounds 18 days later. Her partner survived. Officer Smith had served with the Detroit Police Department for over one year.
Survivors
She was survived by her mother and brother.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MI-82FFFECA- 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
You barely got started.
Police Officer Smith gave the Detroit Police Department 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Detroit community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Smith.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Officer Linda G. Smith 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 MI, 229 of 718 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 31.9% of this state's fallen. That is 0.9 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
At Detroit Police Department, 58 of 250 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 23.2% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Linda G. Smith's cause is highlighted.
How Linda G. Smith Compares
Offender Outcome
Not available
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Linda G. Smith is highlighted in Nov.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
249 officers from Detroit Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
