Roll of Honor
Incident
POlice Officer William Pottker was struck and killed while directing traffic at the scene of a previous traffic accident on Washington Boulevard near Lombard Avenue.
Officer Pottker had served with the Oak Park Police Department for 25 years. He was buried in Wheaton Cemetery.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IL-F9E8E5ED- 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.
Police Officer Pottker gave the Oak Park Police Department 25 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Oak Park community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Pottker.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Officer William H. Pottker 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 IL, 354 of 1,318 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 26.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.1 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
At Oak Park Police Department, 4 of 7 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 57.1% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. William H. Pottker's cause is highlighted.
How William H. Pottker Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. William H. Pottker is highlighted in Jul.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
6 officers from Oak Park Police Department are honored on badge.nw.
