Martin J. Joyce

Tacoma Police Department — Tacoma, WA

Accident

End of Watch November 25, 1941

Age 45

Tour of Duty 8 yrs

The Vigil Panel 78 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 11

Incident

Officer Martin Joyce and Officer Paul Trent were killed when their patrol car collided with a Pierce County Sheriff's Department patrol car occupied by Deputy Sheriff Arthur Varco and Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Bunce. The crash occurred at the intersection of 11th Avenue and Pacific Avenue. The deputies were responding to an accident while the officers were responding to an unrelated attempted suicide. Officer Joyce succumbed to his injuries two days later. The other three officers were killed instantly. Officer Joyce had served with the Tacoma Police Department for eight years.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-WA-F8CE58A4
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.
Officer Joyce gave the Tacoma Police Department 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the Tacoma community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Joyce.

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

Agency

Department Tacoma Police Department

Location Tacoma, WA

Platform Identity tpd.pierce.wa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 25, 1941

Tour of Duty 8 yrs

Age 45

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Officer Martin J. Joyce 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 WA, 111 of 339 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 32.7% of this state's fallen. That is 1.7 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Tacoma Police Department, 5 of 12 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 41.7% of this agency's fallen.

Tacoma Police Department

of 12 officers

41.7% Accident

WA — Statewide

111

of 339 officers

32.7% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident