John C. Baxter, Jr.
Agency patch
Sergeant

John C. Baxter, Jr.

Florida Highway Patrol — Tallahassee, FL
Accident
End of Watch October 2, 1985
Age 57
Tour of Duty 25 yrs
The Vigil Panel 130 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Sergeant Baxter was killed in an airplane crash while assisting the search for four armed robbery suspects in Manatee County. Sergeant Baxter had served with the Florida Highway Patrol for 25 years.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-FL-1A5952B9
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

25 years. You could have gone home.
Sergeant Baxter gave the Florida Highway Patrol 25 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the people of Florida. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Baxter.

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

Agency

Location Tallahassee, FL
Platform Identity fhp.fl.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 2, 1985
Tour of Duty 25 yrs
Age 57
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Sergeant John C. Baxter, Jr. 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 FL, 313 of 1,008 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 31.1% of this state's fallen. That is 0.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Florida Highway Patrol, 25 of 54 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 46.3% of this agency's fallen.

Florida Highway Patrol
25
of 54 officers
46.3% Accident
FL — Statewide
313
of 1,008 officers
31.1% Accident
Nationwide
10,088
of 32,508 officers
31% Accident

National Cause Distribution

How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John C. Baxter, Jr.'s cause is highlighted.

Felonious
17,623 (54.2%)
Accident
10,088 (31%)
Illness
2,974 (9.1%)
Cardiac
1,306 (4%)
Undetermined
260 (0.8%)
Suicide
256 (0.8%)
vehicular
1 (0%)

How John C. Baxter, Jr. Compares

Age at End of Watch
57
This officer
Avg for Accident: 38.1 years
Years of Service
25
This officer
Avg for Accident: 9.1 years

When Accident Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. John C. Baxter, Jr. is highlighted in Oct.

Jan
820
Feb
730
Mar
748
Apr
707
May
847
Jun
795
Jul
897
Aug
937
Sep
913
Oct
925
Nov
872
Dec
897