Joseph S. Hover

St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office — Fort Pierce, FL

Illness

End of Watch October 8, 2005

Age 58

Tour of Duty 24 yrs

The Vigil Panel 153 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 9

Incident

Master Deputy Joseph Hover died from complications of an injury he sustained during a defense tactics training class two months earlier.

Another deputy was demonstrating a defense take down on Deputy Hover, which resulted in him suffering a shoulder injury. Complications arose from the injury and he passed away on October 8th, 2005.

Deputy Hover had served with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office for 24 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and one child.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-FL-F507FA5C
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

24 years. You could have gone home.
Master Deputy Hover gave the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office 24 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Fort Pierce community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Master Deputy Hover.

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

Agency

Department St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office

Location Fort Pierce, FL

Platform Identity slcso.stlucie.fl.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 8, 2005

Tour of Duty 24 yrs

Age 58

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness

Cause Detail Duty related illness

Master Deputy Joseph S. Hover is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In FL, 81 of 1,008 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 8% of this state's fallen. That is 1.1 percentage points below the national rate of 9.1%.

At St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, 1 of 10 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 10% of this agency's fallen.

St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office

of 10 officers

10% Illness

FL — Statewide

of 1,008 officers

8% Illness

Nationwide

2,974

of 32,508 officers

9.1% Illness