Joseph Alan Cox Jr.
Allen County Sheriff's Department
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Served: 19 years
Badge #: 213
Panel 26E, Line 31 (2019)
Panel L11, Line 13 (2018)
Incident Details
Cause of Death:Heart attack
Date/Time of Incident:
Sunday, February 12, 2017
09:30 pm
Incident to Death Duration:
Same day
Incident Location:
9600 block of Ricker Road
Incident County:
Allen
Incident Township:
Milan
Weapon Used:
None
Suspect Disposition:
None
Burial Place:
Concordia Cemetery Gardens, Fort Wayne
Sergeant Joseph Cox died after suffering a heart attack while investigating an accident between a vehicle and a horse-drawn Amish buggy at State Road 37 and Ricker Road.
After leaving the home of the buggy's driver in the 9600 block of Ricker Road, he placed his patrol car in reverse and was backing out. His car then accelerated, crashed through a fence and traveled about 70 yards into a field before becoming stuck in mud.
Other officers were called and responded to find him unconscious. He was transported to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne where he was pronounced dead.
Sergeant Cox, from New Haven, was survived by his wife, Diana; daughters, Kristen (Cole) Miller, Jessica (Zachary) Moord, Melissa (Jordan) Palmer and Amy (Jacob) Richman; sons, Joseph Cox and Jerod (Kara) Hevel; sister, Stephanie (Matthew) Demorest; brother, Matthew (Josh Gardner) Cox; parents, Joseph Sr. and Brenda Cox; 13 grandchildren; and his canine partner, Gunny.
His son, Joseph, currently serves as a deputy sheriff with the department.
Military Service
United States Marine Corps |
Historical Notes• Sergeant Cox was the first of two Indiana line of duty deaths in 2017. |
Allen County Sheriff's Department
Sergeant Cox Jr.