Duty Death: Eddie Johnson, Jr. - [Alton]
End of Service: 19/10/2014
By Police1 Staff
ALTON, Mo. — A police officer, who is also a fire chief, was killed in a car crash while responding to a house fire Monday.
KY3 reported that Chief Eddie Johnson Jr., 45, with the Alton Fire Department, was on his way to the fire when he lost control, went off the left side of the highway, hit a driveway approach and rolled his police cruiser several times. He was ejected from the vehicle.
An ambulance took Chief Johnson to the hospital, but he did not survive. State troopers think Johnson was not wearing his seat belt, according to the report.
The fire that he was responding to destroyed the home.
Chief Johnson was a full-time police officer, volunteer fire chief and also a reserve sheriff’s deputy, according to the report. He had been fire chief since 2010 and worked with the Alton Police Department for nine years.
He leaves behind a wife and three children. The crash remains under investigation.