Roll of Honor
Incident
Officer Rappolee and Officer Robert Fellows were crushed to death when a wall fell onto their patrol car. A large fire had destroyed a section of downtown Wichita Falls and the two officers were sitting in their patrol car in front of one of the damaged buildings when the wall collapsed and landed on top of the car. Officer Rappolee had served with the Wichita Falls Police Department for just over 2 years.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-TX-FAED3684- 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.
Officer Rappolee gave the Wichita Falls Police Department 2 years.
Thank you for your service to the Wichita Falls community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Rappolee.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Officer Walter Edwin Rappolee, 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 TX, 653 of 2,421 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 27% of this state's fallen. That is 4 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
At Wichita Falls Police Dept., 4 of 7 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 57.1% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Walter Edwin Rappolee, Jr.'s cause is highlighted.
How Walter Edwin Rappolee, Jr. Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Walter Edwin Rappolee, Jr. is highlighted in Aug.
Others Who Wore This Badge
6 officers from Wichita Falls Police Dept. are honored on badge.nw.
