On October 16, 1932, Traffic Officer Clarence Jensen and his partner were monitoring traffic on Milpas Street when they noticed a violation. Both officers attempted to stop the vehicle which accelerated quickly turning the traffic stop into a pursuit. As speeds reached 65 mph Officer Jensen’s motorcycle began to wobble. Officer Jensen lost control of the motor and it jumped 30 feet and slid an additional 166 feet.
Officer Jensen was transported to Cottage Hospital where he died of his injuries two days later.
Sadly, it was on January 12, 1931 that Officer Jensen was one of the first officers to arrive at the accident which killed his co-worker Officer Ronald Wainscott.
Officer A. Edward Hinck was patrolling in National City early Saturday morning when a motorist made a left-hand turn in front of Hinck’s motorcycle. Officer Hinck was unable to stop and crashed into the automobile. The impact of the collision killed the 30-year-old patrol officer instantly.
Officer Edwin B. Crook was pursuing a speeding motorist late at night through Venice when his motorcycle was struck by an oncoming automobile. Crook was thrown from his motorcycle and killed instantly. He had been a CHP patrolman for only eight days.
Officer J. W. Shuman accidentally shot and fatally wounded himself as he was repairing his service revolver in a room used as an armory in the CHP office. Shuman evidently believed he had taken out all of the cartridges from his revolver when he began inspecting the action of the pistol. Investigators found the partially dismantled revolver, pistol cleaning implements, a screwdriver and five cartridges lying on a low counter. The 36-year-old patrolman died two hours later without regaining consciousness. Officer Shuman was a member of the CHP for six years.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy of Special Anti-Gangster Duty Frank De War was flying home from Bakersfield after investigating a lead in a kidnapping case. The veteran pilot flew low, under the clouds of a pending storm. About 20 minutes into the flight, visibility was zero and the pilot decided to turn around, but misjudged the terrain, scraping the underbelly of the airplane and igniting the fuel tanks. All eight passengers died in the resulting inferno. It took a week to locate the wreckage. Chief Deputy De War, a veteran of World War I, was honored by 2,000 mourners, including state and local dignitaries and American and Canadian veterans. The colorful mix of uniforms, green next to red, was led by plaid kilt clad pipers.
