Officer Maurice W. Owen was traveling north on Highway 99 responding to an emergency call. A car made a left turn in front of his motorcycle, and he was thrown over the vehicle’s hood, sliding 20 feet on his back and sustaining lacerations and internal injuries. In the true spirit of a traffic officer, he got to his feet, pulled out his citation book and handed the driver a ticket for reckless driving. Only then did he seek medical treatment.
A month later, he was pursuing a speeder and was again injured when he slid his motor to avoid colliding with a car. Owen insisted on returning to work after each incident, but after several weeks of intense suffering, checked into a hospital where he died from a blood clot formed as a result of internal injuries.
Officer Owen, 42, joined the San Joaquin County Motor Patrol in 1927 and the Highway Patrol in 1929 where he served 11 years.
Ofc. Dark was in pursuit of a speeding vehicle traveling westbound on Foothill Blvd. He chased the vehicle into the adjacent town of Claremont, when his vehicle struck a vehicle making a left turn in front of him. He died four days later from injuries he suffered in the collision.
Ofc. Henry J. Goodrich was killed on Sept. 7, when his police motorcycle struck a vehicle making an illegal U-turn. He died instantly upon impact.
Goodrich had been with the San Diego Police Department for 13 years.
His wife and two children survived him.
On July 18, 1940, Motorcycle officers Leo Cunningham and Calvin N. Clayton attempted to apprehend a speeding motorist. That endeavor cost Cunningham his life.
Clayton reported that they rode their motorcycles in pursuit of the motorist eastbound on East 14th Street from 54th Avenue. Cunningham was in the lead when his front wheel struck a “traffic button” in the roadway. He and his motorcycle were thrown an estimated 135 feet. When Clayton reached the stricken officer to give aid, Cunningham was pinned by the still running motorcycle.
Cunningham died 30 minutes later at Merritt Hospital of severe head and internal injuries. He had joined the Oakland Police Department on May 11, 1938, and was assigned to the Traffic Division on January 3, 1939. He was survived by his wife.
Officer William F. Malin was returning to his beat -a two-lane highway near Los Angeles- after serving on a CHP motorcycle escort team during a parade celebrating Independence Day, 1940. A speeding motorist cutting through traffic crushed Malin against a walled section of the highway. He had been a member of the Patrol for six years.
While patrolling on his motorcycle, Officer Delbert P. Buckman was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on February 14, 1940.
Officer Samuel G. Cope was patrolling near the city limits of West Covina when an automobile swung into his line of traffic and crashed head-on into Cope’s motorcycle. Initially his injuries were believed to be non-threatening, but complications developed and he died. Cope was a member of the Los Angeles Police Department before joining the CHP in 1935.
