In the pre-dawn hours of October 28, 1967, Officer John Frey, a member of the Oakland Police Department for 18 months, made a car stop and proceeded to conduct a warrant check. He requested a cover unit and Officer Cliff Heanes arrived at the scene shortly afterward.
They requested two occupants of the vehicle, a male and a female, to exit the car. The officers separated the two for questioning. While interviewing the two subjects, both officers were shot. While their assailants fled, the officers called for help. The responding officers found Frey shot in the chest, stomach and leg, and Heanes shot in the chest, knee and arm.
It is believed that Heanes shot and wounded the male suspect, who later showed up at a local hospital with an abdominal wound.
Frey died at the scene. Heanes recovered and returned to duty.
He was survived by his wife and daughter.
Deputy Hoyt was shot and killed in the Lake County Courthouse when three prisoners being led to a courtroom attempted to escape. The three, who were shackled to each other, attacked another deputy, grabbed his gun and opened fire. Deputy Hoyt, who was not armed, was shot in the chest. Before he collapsed he managed to stagger to a counter where he obtained a gun kept below it, and returned fire, wounding one of the prisoners. Other officers who heard the shots subdued the prisoners.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy James Waygood was assigned to the Firestone Park Station at the time of his death. He was riding as the passenger in a patrol car driven by Deputy John Lawton when they went into pursuit of a suspicious vehicle. With red lights and siren on, the patrol car collided with another car in an intersection. The driver of the other car was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. The deputies had to be freed from the wreckage. Deputy Waygood died a couple hours later. Deputy Lawton needed surgery but survived.
Officer William L. Isham and his partner, Officer Donald V. Knott, responding to a family disturbance call, were both fatally shot by a suspect on August 26, 1967. Both officers were pronounced dead at Long Beach Community Hospital.
Officer William L. Isham and his partner, Officer Donald V. Knott, responding to a family disturbance call, were both fatally shot by a suspect on August 26, 1967. Both officers were pronounced dead at Long Beach Community Hospital.
Responded to an in progress domestic violence call in South Modesto. The responsible ambushed Deputy Thornton as he approached the residence, fatally shooting Thornton.
The Torrance Police Department lost our second officer in the line of duty when David Seibert was killed on Thursday, August 10, 1967. Officer Seibert had responded to a silent robbery alarm at the Foods Co. market located at 17500 Crenshaw Blvd at 9:25 in the morning. Unbeknownst to him, an actual robbery by an escaped convict was taking place inside the store. Officer Seibert entered the market and was confronted by the suspect who shot him. The suspect fled the location but was captured near Salt Lake City, Utah two weeks later. On February 22, 1968, a jury found the suspect guilty of the first degree murder of Officer Seibert.
Officer Frank A. Story and his partner, Officer Ernest H. Goff, were on the graveyard shift patrolling along U.S. Highway 86 north of Imperial when they stopped a truck-tractor rig for a routine registration check. While Goff radioed, Story stayed with the driver, who maneuvered himself into a position where he could grab Goff’s handgun, and opened fire. Story, 25, was killed instantly. Goff, 44, was wounded but struggled with the suspect and was able to overpower and arrest the killer. The assailant, who had been driving a stolen rig, was charged with murder and attempted murder.
