MPD officer killed in car crash laid to rest
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A Memphis police officer who was killed in a car crash on August 2 was laid to rest Thursday.
Officer Demetrice Johnson’s funeral was held at the Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Highway 64. It was a packed house for the two-and-a-half hour-long service.
A large American flag and police escorts awaited outside as Johnson’s family, friends, and fellow police officers, alongside city leaders including Mayor Paul Young, offered their support and condolences.
Rantavious Johnson, 22, also died in the crash, and MPD Officer Bobby Fields was seriously wounded.
Demetrice, 34, had been with MPD since May 2023 and graduated from the training academy in Basic Recruit Class #142 in March 2024, when he was assigned to the North Main Station.
‘He was a servant at heart’
At the funeral, interim Police Chief CJ Davis says she distinctly remembers when Demetrice graduated from the police academy on March 7.
“I remember the loud cheer and the roar in the audience as I pinned his badge and I asked him if he had brought the whole neighborhood to the graduation, and he just replied to me, ‘Chief, that’s just my wife and my family,’” she recalled.
His wife Chosen Johnson said, “Demetrice was literally everything that you can think of... for me, anyway. He was a provider, he was a servant at heart, literally everything he touched had to have a touch of his perfection.”
Demetrice was laid to rest at the Memorial Park Cemetery on Poplar Avenue.
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