Officer George W. Redding responded to an accident call where a vehicle had crashed into a telephone pole. Redding had just gotten out of his patrol car when a passing vehicle struck the downed telephone support cable causing it to snap and whip across the road. The flying cable struck the patrol officer, wrapped around his ankles and hurled him into the air before throwing him to the ground. Officer Redding, 43, was killed almost instantly.

A Memorial posted on Highway 273 between mile markers 6.50 and 10.50 in Shasta County will forever honor him. His son, Mark, is now a CHP Officer in the Redding area, having joined the Highway Patrol in 1985.