John William Leatherbury, Jr.

Prince George's County Police Dept. — Hyattsville, MD

Accident

End of Watch March 21, 1968

Age 26

The Vigil Panel 103 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 29

Incident

Private John Leatherbury was killed in a police helicopter accident while assisting officers who were searching a bank building that had been found with an open door. The Hughes 300 helicopter was hovering over the bank when its main rotor blades struck power lines and crashed onto a parking deck at Iverson Mall. Private Leatherbury and the civilian pilot were both killed instantly. The police department was leasing the helicopter for a three week period as it evaluated whether or not to start a helicopter unit.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MD-39D93B5A
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

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Private Leatherbury served with the Prince George's County Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the Palmer Park community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Private Leatherbury.

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

Agency

Department Prince George's County Police Dept.

Location Hyattsville, MD

Platform Identity pgcpd.pg.md.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 21, 1968

Age 26

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Private John William Leatherbury, 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 MD, 140 of 377 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 37.1% of this state's fallen. That is 6.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Prince George's County Police Dept., 11 of 30 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 36.7% of this agency's fallen.

Prince George's County Police Dept.

of 30 officers

36.7% Accident

MD — Statewide

140

of 377 officers

37.1% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident