Richard L. Fortin

Detroit Police Department — Detroit, MI

Veteran → Accident

End of Watch June 19, 1987

Age 45

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

The Vigil Panel 132 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 249

Incident

Police Officer Richard Fortin drowned at 3:38 p.m. while attempting to rescue four people from a boat that had capsized in the Detroit River outside Detroit's Renaissance Center. He was wearing a wetsuit during the rescue but did not have on breathing apparatus. The four people in the capsized boat were rescued by nearby boaters. Officer Fortin had served with the Detroit Police Department for 23 years and was a member of the department's volunteer diving team.

Survivors

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

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MI-C717574A
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. Army. One record, 2 gates. Richard is one person.

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Tributes

23 years. You could have gone home.
Police Officer Fortin gave the Detroit Police Department 23 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Detroit community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Fortin.

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

Agency

Department Detroit Police Department

Type Police Department

Location Detroit, Wayne County, MI

Platform Identity detpd.wayne.mi.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch June 19, 1987

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

Age 45

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Military Service

Richard L. Fortin served in the U.S. Army (1961â1963) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Police Officer Richard L. Fortin 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 MI, 229 of 719 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 31.8% of this state's fallen. That is 31.8 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

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.

Detroit Police Department

of 250 officers

23.2% Accident

MI — Statewide

229

of 719 officers

31.8% Accident

Nationwide

of 97,772 officers

0% Accident