Lieutenant Clarence Purvis Cox, Jr.

Clarence Purvis Cox, Jr.

Lieutenant Clarence Cox was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a suspect who was wanted for escape and for the murder of a priest.

He had encountered the subject near the intersection of N Lauderdale Street and Exchange Avenue and attempted to take him into custody.

The suspect was able to gain control of Lieutenant Cox's service weapon and shoot him with it. The man was later arrested in Jackson, Tennessee. He was sentenced to death but later murdered in prison by other death row inmates.

Lieutenant Cox was a United States Navy veteran and had served with the Memphis Police Department for 22 years.