William E. Mears

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department — St. Louis, MO

Accident

End of Watch March 25, 1941

Age 34

Tour of Duty 11 yrs

The Vigil Panel 77 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 175

Incident

Police Officer William Mears was killed in a motorcycle accident at the intersection of Hampton Avenue and Loran Street at 11:25 pm. His motorcycle drove through two wooden barricades that had been placed around a construction site.

Survivors

Officer Mears had been with the agency for 11 years and was survived by his wife and two daughters.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MO-71CC03F1
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.
Police Officer Mears gave the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department 11 years.
Thank you for your service to the St. Louis community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Mears.

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

Agency

Department St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department

Location St. Louis, MO

Platform Identity stlopd.saintlouis.mo.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 25, 1941

Tour of Duty 11 yrs

Age 34

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Police Officer William E. Mears 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 MO, 237 of 813 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 29.2% of this state's fallen. That is 1.8 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.

At St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, 56 of 176 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 31.8% of this agency's fallen.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department

of 176 officers

31.8% Accident

MO — Statewide

237

of 813 officers

29.2% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident