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Bridge to be named for Tennessee town’s first Black officer

Podium with microphones with Tennessee state flag in background campaign finance tile. / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Niyazz Podium with microphones with Tennessee state flag in background campaign finance tile. / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Niyazz

By Associated Press October 12, 2020 1 min read

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The first Black police officer of a Tennessee town will be memorialized when a bridge is named for him this week.

Collierville will dedicate the U.S. 72 bridge in memory of George T. Walker, who was also an alderman. He was 75 when he was killed almost 19 years ago during a robbery at his family’s convenience store, police said.

The bridge is being dedicated Monday, the Commercial Appeal reports.

Walker’s death is the only unsolved homicide in the town, and police continue to look for a suspect, said Jennifer Casey, Collierville’s public information officer.

Walker served in the Army in Vietnam, became the town’s first Black police officer in 1965 and later became the first Black alderman. He was a retired transportation director for Shelby County schools.