City backs renaming road for slain police Lt. Debra Clayton

Orlando’s City Council on Tuesday unanimously backed plans to rename a stretch of Silver Star Road in memory of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton, who was killed after confronting a murder suspect in January.

Tuesday’s vote was the affirmation of local support for legislation state lawmakers approved in May, which renamed 50 roads and bridges across Florida, many after law enforcement officers, including Clayton and Orange County Deputy Norman Lewis, who also died in January.

The segment of Silver Star Road between John Young Parkway and Pine Hills Road, near the Wal-Mart where Clayton was killed Jan. 9, will now be known as “Lieutenant Debra Clayton Memorial Highway.”

Clayton, a 17-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, was killed in a gunfight in the Wal-Mart parking lot while attempting to arrest Markeith Loyd, a suspect in the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon. Loyd was later captured after a nine-day manhunt.

He is charged with murder in Clayton’s death.

Members of Clayton’s patrol unit attended in support of Tuesday’s vote.

The resolution approved by Orlando commissioners was requested by state Sen. Randolph Bracy and state Rep. Kamia Brown, who championed renaming the roadway at the state level. Gov. Rick Scott in June signed the bill approving the honorary memorial.

A Doctor Phillips High School graduate who earned degrees in public administration and criminal justice from the University of Central Florida, Clayton joined the Orlando Police Department in 1999.