By Steve Neavling
The FBI reports that 93 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty last year, a small increase over 2019.
Of those deaths, 46 were the result of felonious assault, and 47 were accidents, according to the bureau’s annual report.
Of the offers feloniously killed, nine were ambushed, seven died while conducting law enforcement activities, seven were assisting other officers, five were responding to crimes in progress, four were responding to disorders or disturbances, three were involved in arrests, two were responding to citizen complaints, two were trying to serve an arrest warrant, two had encountered a person experiencing an emotional disturbance, two were killed during an unprovoked attack, one was trying to serve a court order, one was helping a motorist, and one was killed in an incident reported as “other.”
All but five of the officers feloniously killed died as the result of a gun.
The average age of officers were were feloniously killed was 39 years old. Of those, 41 were men, 32 were white, 10 were Black, two were Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander and one was American Indian/Alaska Native.
Of those accidentally killed, 26 died as a result of car crashes, 12 were struck by cars, five were killed in firearm-related incidents, two drowned, one died as a result of an aircraft crash, and one died in a fall.
