Sergeant Burt Reeves was patrolling in heavy Sunday traffic when his motorcycle was forced off a Marin County highway and he was thrown to the ground. Reeves was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries four days later. He had been a patrolman for six years and served as acting commander of the Mann Squad during the absence of the Captain. Sergeant Reeves was also a World War I veteran.

In the early Sunday morning hours of Aug. 19, 1931, Motorcycle Officer Osborn A. Lyon was patrolling the streets of East Oakland. While on Foothill Boulevard, he observed a vehicle driving at a high rate of speed and gave chase. When he reached the intersection of 67th Avenue and Foothill, he sideswiped a truck and was thrown to the street, sustaining severe injuries and loss of blood. Despite the efforts of medical personnel and blood transfusions, Lyon lost his fight for life at 7 a.m.

Lyon, 29, joined the Oakland Police Department on Aug. 1, 1929. He had just transferred to the Traffic Bureau. He was survived by a wife and child.

Officer Ralph A. Morgan was shot and killed on July 13, 1931, after he and his partner stopped a stolen vehicle, and a terrific gun battle took place between the two officers and the two suspects.

Morgan’s partner was wounded, one suspect was killed, and the other suspect committed suicide.

On patrol in the east Oakland hills on Independence Day, 1931, Officer William T. Kohler was waved down by two utility workers. They reported several damaged slot machines lying on the ground some distance away. He drove over to the area and came upon two young men shooting at tin cans. Upon seeing the officer, the pair climbed inside their gray roadster and prepared to leave, but Kohler motioned for them to stop for questioning.

When Kohler neared the vehicle, one of the subjects called out, “Stick ’em up.” As he began to draw his own weapon the two fired on Kohler, striking him in the cheek and the chest, and felling him. As he laid on the ground, the suspects started up the roadster and drove over him. (This was confirmed by an eyewitness and marks on the officer’s clothing.) The eyewitness called for assistance for the downed officer. The duo made good their escape.

Kohler, 50, died of his wounds at the hospital. A veteran of 25 years of service with the Oakland Police Department, his death was mourned by his fellow officers, city officials, and the public.

Investigators discovered that one of the weapons used against Kohler had been stolen from an Alameda officer a week earlier. That officer had also been shot, but his badge stopped the round. He was knocked unconscious and the assailants stole his weapon and baton.

After an intensive investigation and issuance of an all points bulletin, Kohler’s assailants were apprehended in Utah.

Edwin R. Jensen, was a thirty-four-year-old Santa Ana Police Department Motorcycle Officer who died on March 3, 1931, after crashing his motorcycle while chasing a speeding vehicle on east First Street in Santa Ana. The accident occured February 28. He had sustained severe head injuries in the accident and was taken to the Santa Ana Valley Hospital by citizens who had witnessed the accident. Officer Jensen was a thirteen month veteran of the Santa Ana Police Department at the time of his death.