Officer Down Memorial Page - http://www.odmp.org

Police Officer Francis X.
Lower Merion Township Police Department, Pennsylvania

Police Officer

Francis X. "Buck" Roy

Lower Merion Township Police Department, Pennsylvania

End of Watch: Sunday, September 14, 1924

Biographical Info

Age: 26
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details

Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: July 3, 1924
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Sentenced to 6 years

Officer Buck Roy succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two months earlier when he and another officer responded to a rally on the Haverford College campus in which 200 KKK members were burning a cross. The officers arrived as the rally ended and attempted to question two men who were leaving the scene. When they asked the man to stop one of them opened fire, striking Officer Roy in the leg and hip and the other officer in the chin.

For the next two months, Officer Roy drifted in and out of consciousness and had to have his leg amputated. He died on September 14, 1924, as a result of the wounds he sustained. Five men were tried and acquitted for his murder. Six months later, a janitor at the college admitted to being the shooter and was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison.

Officer Roy was survived by his mother and father.