Officer Joseph “Joey“ Lupus
Savannah Police Department
Savannah, GA
Date of Death: May 22, 2018
Age: 25
Years of Service: 2
Duty Status: Active
Military Veteran: No
Officer Joseph (Joey) Lupus. After two years of service, Officer Lupus died by suicide at the age of 25 on May 22, 2018.
Joey, a Savannah native, graduated from Calvary Day School with an athletic scholarship to Armstrong Atlantic State University. While attending Armstrong Atlantic State University, Joey was a part of the baseball team for all four years in addition to being recognized on multiple occasions as a Peach Belt Honor Roll recipient. During this time, Joey met what would become his beautiful wife Taylor. After completing his degree in Criminal Justice, he followed in his father, Sergeant Lupus’ footsteps and joined the ranks of the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department in March of 2016.
Those who knew Joey, knew that he loved anything sports related whether it was playing basketball at a local gym with a few friends or watching a football game. If you ever had a question about stats, Joey could rattle them off instantaneously. He had the kindest of hearts and would go above and beyond to help those around him, to include strangers. When Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on Savannah, GA, not only did Joey patrol the streets he also assisted in the removal of a tree to allow residents in and out of their neighborhood.
Taylor and Joey became husband and wife in 2017 in a beautiful ceremony attended by family and friends from all over. They continued to live in Joey’s childhood home with close friends who became family over the years and were a major support system.
Joey was a husband, son, brother, uncle, and friend. In November of 2017, Joey was involved in an officer involved shooting where the suspect evading him pulled a firearm and discharged the weapon on himself. Although Joey did not discharge his weapon, he did struggle with situation. In addition to the stress surrounding this situation, Joey also lost multiple family members and friends unexpectedly.
In April of 2018, Joey and his wife began having marital problems. Joey was open about struggling with his marital problems between losing sleep and losing the motivation to do much or find joy. He mentioned that all he wanted to do was get in his car and drive as fast and far away as he possibly could. Joey showed many symptoms of being suicidal, but family associated many as coping mechanisms for processing his martial situation. No one ever expected Joey to be someone who would succumb to suicide.
Joey was a lighthouse placed on this earth, helping guide everyone around him to be and do better. We would like to have his name and story on your website and Facebook for any officer to see. Not just those navigating a difficult situation, but those helping others to navigate and encourage them to seek help from professionals. If he could help at least one officer struggling the way he was, that would be his greatest joy. We all just want to stop this problem with Law Enforcement and prevent any other families and departments from experiencing the pain that lingers.
