Bio & Incident Details
Age: 51
Tour: Not available
Badge # Not available
Cause: Stabbed
Incident Date: 4/26/1965
Weapon: Edged weapon
Suspect: Sentenced to life
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Officer Sumner was stabbed to death with a makeshift bayonet when he was attacked by three inmates from the Fort Myers Road Prison.
Officer Sumner was overseeing four inmates who were mowing grass on Bunche Beach Road in Lee County when three of them suddenly attacked him and his driver. After they killed Officer Sumner, they tied his driver to a nearby tree and fled in the prison truck. Two were captured later that day by a police officer near Naples after he pulled them over in the stolen truck. The third inmate escaped into the nearby everglades. Officer Sumner's body was found in the back of the truck. The third inmate was captured by FBI agents several days later.
All three inmates were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life on February 10, 1966.
Officer Sumner was survived by his wife and five children.
