Incident
Location: Virginia Weapon: Automobile Offender: Not available
Chief of Police Charles Taylor and Patrolman Weaver Hogan, of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, were killed when their patrol car was forced off the road into a bridge abutment on US Route 21 south of Wytheville, Virginia. The two officers, along with a third officer, had chased the bootlegging suspects into Virginia from North Carolina.
The third officer was injured in the accident.
Chief Taylor had served with the agency for 18 months.
The bridge on Highway 21 entering Sparta, North Carolina, is named in honor of Patrolman Hogan and Chief Taylor.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, father, and eight siblings.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NC-3320536B- 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
You barely got started.
Chief of Police Taylor gave the Sparta Police Department 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Sparta community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Taylor.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police Charles Brantley Taylor 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 NC, 205 of 664 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 30.9% of this state's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Charles Brantley Taylor's cause is highlighted.
How Charles Brantley Taylor Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Charles Brantley Taylor is highlighted in Mar.