Officer Michael S. Griffin was patrolling along U.S. Highway 50 near the Sacramento-El Dorado County line when the wheel of his motorcycle apparently developed a high-speed wobble that sent the motorcycle out of control. Griffin was thrown to the ground and died five days later. The 33-year-old patrolman had served in East Los Angeles, Norwalk, Placerville and Sacramento during his nine years as a CHP member.

Officer Martin J. Tripptree’s motorcycle collided with an automobile in Carmichael on April 22, 1964. Tripptree underwent several operations for head injuries, but succumbed after a long struggle. The 41-year-old patrol officer was a nine-year member of the CHP. Officer Tripptree served in Barstow after graduating from the Academy in 1956 and then transferred to Sacramento in 1957.

Officer Robert G. Smith was involved in a high-speed pursuit on December 12, 1965. During the pursuit he struck a third vehicle, west of the Long Beach Freeway. Smith was pronounced dead on arrival at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.

Deputy Ronald Ludlow was temporally assigned to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Firestone Park Station in south-central Los Angeles at the time of his death. He was the fist fatality of the Watts riots. He and several other Sheriff’s units were on Imperial Highway and Wilmington Avenue trying to disperse a crowd from a liquor store that had been looted and set on fire. Shots were fired at the deputies as they stood their ground. Ludlow’s partner carried a shotgun when he approached a vehicle, ordering them to leave. Instead, an occupant grabbed the gun, the deputy twisted it out of his grasp and the weapon discharged, hitting Deputy Ludlow in the stomach. Deputy Don Kennedy, who was near Deputy Ludlow when he fell to the ground, recalled him saying, “I don’t feel too bad.” Deputy Ludlow died in the lap of a fellow Deputy Jack Miller while being rushed to St. Francis Hospital in a patrol car. The suspect, who tried to disarm the deputy with the shotgun, was convicted for manslaughter.