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Incident Details

Cause of Death:
Struck by vehicle
Date/Time of Incident:
Saturday, July 5, 1980
10:30 pm
Incident to Death Duration:
Same day
Incident Location:
445 North County Road 25 East, North Vernon
Incident County:
Jennings
Incident Township:
Vernon
Weapon Used:
None
Suspect Disposition:
None

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Jennings County Sheriff's Department

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Reserve Deputy Sheriff Gerald Lowell Martin

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Reserve Deputy Sheriff
Gerald Lowell Martin
Jennings County Sheriff's Department
Saturday, July 5, 1980

Not Included
Not Included

   Reserve Deputy Sheriff Gerald Martin was struck and killed by a race car while working a security detail at the Twin Cities Speedway near Vernon.

   While he was speaking with a subject regarding an argument with two others at the track, he was struck from behind by a race car. The race car's accelerator apparently stuck when coming around the outside turn of the track.

   The driver lost control and the vehicle went over the curve, end over end, before striking all four individuals. Reserve Deputy Martin died a short time later at Jennings Community Hospital that also killed the 18-year-old man he was talking with.

   Reserve Deputy Sheriff Martin, from Butlerville, had also served as a dispatcher with the North Vernon Police Department. He was survived by a son, three daughters, parents, brother and four grandchildren.

Military Service


United States Air Force
Korean War
~ ~ ~
This officer, discovered in 2005, has not been submitted for consideration as an eligible line of duty death to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund by the Jennings County Sheriff's Department.

Personal Details

Age: 51
Law Enforcement Service:
5 years
Burial Place:
Westport Cemetery, Westport