Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy William White was assigned to Firestone Park Station in the south-central area of Los Angeles County at the time of his death. At 5:27 a.m. Deputy White and Deputy Robert Melendez received a disturbance call in the Firestone area. They were en route when hit by another car. Another unit, responding as backup to the disturbance call, saw lights in the distance, but were unaware of the traffic collision. While taking the report at the original location, the victims gave the assisting deputies the license number of the getaway vehicle. This vehicle was the one that struck the patrol car occupied by Deputies Melendez and White. Deputy White was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood where he succumbed to his injuries at 9:40 a.m.

Officer Coburn Brasilio Jewell had parked his patrol car on the highway shoulder with the amber light burning. Jewell was sitting on the passenger side of the front seat when a motorist lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the parked patrol car. The motorist’s vehicle was traveling at 50 m.p.h. when it struck and the force of the impact killed Officer Jewell.

Officer Kenneth L. Witke was patrolling in West Los Angeles when a vehicle made a left turn in front of him without signaling. Witke was unable to brake and avoid a fatal collision. The 50-year-old patrolman was a 17-year veteran of the Highway Patrol with prior law enforcement service that included a stint as a U.S. Army MP and a state policeman assigned to the Department of Finance.

Sergeant William D. Huckaby was attempting to save the lives of three small children who had climbed onto a slow-moving freight train passing through South Los Angeles. As Huckaby rode his motorcycle down the railroad right-of-way to catch the train, he struck a cable that had been stretched between two posts. The 33-year-old sergeant sustained critical injuries and died four days later. He had been a member of the Patrol for seven years.

Officer Ralph A. Minion was killed when a motorist, trying to avoid rear-ending a slow-moving truck, swerved over the center divider and crashed head-on into Minion’s motorcycle. Minion did not have a chance to swerve or brake and was killed instantly.