July 17 marks 60 years since Willie B. Ellis was shot and killed. He was the first Fort Pierce police officer to be killed in the line of duty.
Ellis, 43 and a 13-year veteran of the force, was one of Fort Pierce’s first Black police officers.
“When my husband passed, people were so supportive,” said Dorothy Ellis-Saunders in 2006, who had remarried and moved to Ocala, “no matter what their race, creed or color. I don’t know that anything like that had happened before in Fort Pierce. It’s like his death was instrumental in causing people to think about how the city needed to change. And now, 40 years hence, we can see the changes.” She has since died.
What happened to Willie B. Ellis?
Ellis and his partner, Officer Clifford Minus, were called to deal with a neighborhood feud. They responded to the home of Eugene Emerson on Avenue I at 5:43 p.m. Sunday, July 17, 1966, according to TCPalm archives.
As the two officers entered the house, Emerson lunged at Ellis, grabbed his service revolver from its holster and began shooting. Ellis was shot several times, at least twice after Emerson stood over his prostrate body.
Minus and Emerson exchanged several rounds. Minus was hit twice as he struggled to get out of the house.
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies quickly surrounded the house. Emerson refused to come out until a canister tossed in a window caught a mattress on fire. He was treated for gunshot wounds in his chest and arm.
More than 350 police officers from throughout Florida attended Ellis’ funeral, which filled the St. Paul AME Church in Fort Pierce. Loudspeakers were placed in the church basement and on the sidewalk outside so the overflow crowd could hear Mayor William R. Dannahower eulogize Ellis as “a man who served all of us, who was devoted to duty.”
“(Police) Chief (Eugene) Savage gave a dynamic address that day,” Ellis-Saunders said in 2006, “and I remember he said that he might not be where he is today if not for men like my late husband paving the way for Black people in law enforcement.”
Minus died in 1969 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Emerson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. His attempts for parole were denied, in part because of opposition by Ellis’ family and Fort Pierce residents. He died in prison.
Ellis was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant 25 years after his death. The Fort Pierce Police Department substation on Avenue D built in 2000 was named in Ellis’ honor in November that year.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 60 years ago, this Florida police officer was killed in the line of duty
Reporting by Olivia Franklin, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Olivia Franklin, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
