Roll of Honor
Incident
Sergeant James Perry suffered a fatal heart attack while in a foot pursuit of a man suspected in an earlier assault on an officer in Ardmore, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital in Alabama after being flown there.
Sergeant Perry had served with the Tennessee Highway Patrol for 23 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and two sons.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-TN-9244D40A- 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
23 years. You could have gone home.
Sergeant Perry gave the Tennessee Highway Patrol 23 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the people of Tennessee. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Perry.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sergeant James David Perry 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 TN, 37 of 769 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.8% of this state's fallen. That is 0.8 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At Tennessee Highway Patrol, 4 of 41 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.8% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. James David Perry's cause is highlighted.
How James David Perry Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. James David Perry is highlighted in Oct.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
40 officers from Tennessee Highway Patrol are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
