James M. Jimmy Johnson was a Carrollton, Georgia, police officer whose 1980 on-duty wounding led to his death decades later. On a November day in 1980, Johnson, then just under four years with the Carrollton Police Department, and two other officers were questioning an armed man who had come to town with a large sum of cash. During a struggle the suspect took Johnson hostage and shot him in the back with a .38 caliber revolver. The suspect was shot and wounded by the other officers and taken into custody.

The single gunshot left Johnson partially paralyzed. He underwent months of rehabilitation and attempted to walk again, but extreme, persistent pain forced him to leave the force in August 1983. He received the department’s Medal of Valor and Purple Heart for his actions and sacrifice. On May 26, 2010, the county coroner ruled his death a homicide resulting from the injuries sustained in that 1980 shooting.