Athens Police Department, Ohio
End of Watch: Wednesday, September 8, 1926
Age: 42
Tour of Duty: 8 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: September 6, 1926
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Acquitted
Constable Mariner was killed while he was executing a warrant.
Constable Mariner was serving the warrant on the suspect because a woman reportedly bought alcohol there and became intoxicated. After some controversy over whether the suspect understood the nature of the warrant he made a pretense to get his glasses and picked up a gun from an oil stove and shot Mariner twice. Mariner told his son, who was accompanying him, to get help. The suspect chased the boy and fired at him, the bullet went through the boy’s shirt, but did not hurt him. Mariner then shot the suspect in the shoulder. During the jury trial the suspect was acquitted of all charges, because he claimed he did not know who Mariner was (no uniform was worn) even though the suspect understood that Mariner had a search warrant.
Constable Mariner was survived by a wife and four children.