Florida Department of Corrections, Florida
End of Watch: Tuesday, December 15, 1987
Age: 56
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire (Inadvertent)
Date of Incident: July 19, 1958
Weapon Used: Officer's weapon
Suspect Info: Not available
Correctional Officer Hoyt Ergle succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained 29 years earlier when he was accidentally shot in the neck while on the department's firing range.
The round severed his spinal cord, rendering him a permanent paraplegic.
Officer Ergle was assigned to the Avon Park Correctional Institution at the time of the incident. He was survived by his wife, four children, and eight grandchildren.