Roll of Honor
Incident
Detective Williams suffered a fatal heart attack while struggling with a shoplifting suspect at a department store at 1206 Woodward Ave. around 3 p.m. Detective Williams had been detailed to the store during the Christmas holidays. Four men were required to subdue the suspect during the struggle. Detective Williams had served with the Detroit Police Department for 24 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and daughter.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MI-2DCCB87A- 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.
Detective Williams gave the Detroit Police Department 24 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Detroit community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective Williams.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Detective Duke Williams is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In MI, 39 of 718 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5.4% of this state's fallen. That is 1.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At Detroit Police Department, 8 of 250 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 3.2% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Duke Williams's cause is highlighted.
How Duke Williams Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Duke Williams is highlighted in Dec.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
249 officers from Detroit Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
