Detective Lemuel Dodd Savage

Lemuel Dodd Savage

Detective Lem Savage succumbed to gunshot wounds he received when he was transporting two prisoners to jail.

He had arrested two subjects when he found them burglarizing a store. He searched the two men before transporting them but missed a handgun hidden in one of the man's pants. During the transport, one of the men produced the gun and shot Detective Savage near the Amarillo Police Station on West 4th Avenue. As the suspect fled, he kidnapped three other people before being apprehended.

Detective Savage died from his wounds at St. Anthony's Hospital three days later.

The suspect was an escapee from prison. He was convicted of federal kidnapping charges and sent to Alcatraz Prison. While in Alcatraz, the subject was part of an escape attempt that ultimately left Correctional Officer Harold Stites and Correctional William Miller of the Federal Bureau of Prisons dead from gunshot wounds. The suspect was executed in 1948 for his role in the two murders.

Detective Savage had served with the Amarillo Police Department for three years and the city of Amarillo for 16 years. He was survived by his wife, son, and two daughters.