Fallen Police Officer’s Legacy Still Echoes in Atlantic City

This month is the 64th anniversary of the death of the first  Atlantic City Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty.

The Death of Officer Clayton G. Graham

Patrolman Clayton G. Graham, 42, was shot and killed by a man he had issued a speeding ticket to earlier in the day on April 23, 1962.

After completing his shift, while still in uniform, he was walking toward his home on North Haddon Avenue when the man confronted him.  As he reached his personal vehicle, the man pulled out a gun and shot and killed Graham.

Clayton Graham had been an Atlantic City Police officer for 14 years. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife, Beatrice, and their five children. Beatrice became a widow at 29 years old.

The 33-year-old man who shot Graham pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years.

The Officer Was a Military Vet, Wounded in Battle

Officer Graham was a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient in the Second World War. He had been wounded in combat, fighting the Japanese Army in Dutch New Guinea, at Humbolt Bay-- now Indonesia -- on April 23, 1944.

That was 18 years to the day before he was shot and killed in Atlantic City.

Clayton G. Graham's Legacy

Retired Atlantic City Police Officer Michael Graham was just 18 months old when his father, Clayton Graham Sr., became the first Atlantic City police officer to be fatally shot in the line of duty in 1962.

The Clayton G. Graham Public Safety Building in Atlantic City was named for Officer Graham in 1998.