Roll of Honor
Incident
Officer Merle DeWitt was killed when his police motorcycle was struck head-on by an out of control vehicle.
He was returning home from holiday patrol duty when the vehicle struck him on the Santa Ana Freeway at the Rio Hondo overpass, in Commerce.
Officer DeWitt had served with the California Highway Patrol for 21 years.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-CA-51370656- 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
21 years. You could have gone home.
Officer DeWitt gave the California Highway Patrol 21 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the people of California. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer DeWitt.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Officer Merle E. DeWitt 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 CA, 719 of 1,837 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.1% of this state's fallen. That is 8.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
At California Highway Patrol, 151 of 233 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 64.8% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Merle E. DeWitt's cause is highlighted.
How Merle E. DeWitt Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Merle E. DeWitt is highlighted in Dec.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
232 officers from California Highway Patrol are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
