Deputy Sheriff John Lewis Burkett, III

John Lewis Burkett, III

Deputy John Burkett was killed in a head on collision on I-81 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

Deputy Burkett and another deputy were extraditing a prisoner from Pennsylvania back to West Virginia when the accident occurred. The car which struck the patrol car had entered the highway by driving up an exit ramp. On the exit ramp, he passed a Pennsylvania State Trooper who immediately turned around in an attempt to stop the suspect. The suspect's vehicle then struck Deputy Burkett's patrol car. Deputy Burkett, who was in the passenger seat and wearing a seatbelt, succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The other deputy, the prisoner, and the suspect were all injured in the accident.

Deputy Burkett had been a member of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department for just over one year, and is survived by his parents.