On January 18, 1961 Gale Gene Eldridge, 32, was shot and killed during an armed robbery.

Officer Eldridge was a uniformed officer on duty when he stopped a car for a traffic violation at approximately 7:45 in the evening. The driver told Officer Eldridge that he was on his way to a party on the “Reservation.” The “Reservation” was a residential area located in the 200 block of South Indian.

Officer Eldridge allowed the driver to leave the scene and was alerted a short time later that this person was involved in a robbery in Banning. Eldridge called for a backup to meet with him in the “Reservation.” Officer Quincy Welch responded to that request. Officer Eldridge drove down one street while Officer Welch came in a separate direction. Officer Welch overheard on the radio that Eldridge had stopped the suspect and was out of the car investigating. A short time later Officer Welch heard two gunshots. When Officer Welch arrived on the scene, he found Eldridge face down in his police car.

Officer Eldridge had been shot in the stomach. His gun was at his feet and had not been fired. Upon further investigation, the suspect was found in his car and he had been shot in the head. Two shots had been fired from the driver’s gun.

It is speculation that Officer Eldridge had a brief struggle with this suspect. The driver apparently shot Eldridge in the stomach. Eldridge was able to use the suspect’s own gun to shoot him in the head. Both Eldridge and the suspect died at the scene.

Gale was 32-years-old when he died. He was a father of three children, Gale, 13; Donna, 11; and Bobby, 5.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Manuel Ayon was assigned to San Dimas Station at the time of his death. Deputy Ayon had only served two years on the Department before his untimely death. He was driving home from work when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel. His car went off the road and into a drainage ditch, then back onto the roadway where it careened into a utility pole. No other vehicles or persons were involved in the collision. Deputy Ayon was survived by a wife and four children.

Officer William B. Pitois was pursuing a speeder when he came upon two slow-moving cars. As he was braking to go between them, his motorcycle skidded and struck the back end of one of the vehicles causing him fatal injuries. Pitois, 29, was a member of the CHP for two years with previous service in the Newhall Area and on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Reserve Deputy Lee Sawyer was assigned to Lakewood Station when it opened in 1960. He was detailed to work park security during Halloween festivities. Deputy Sawyer was driving from one site to another when he was fatally injured in a traffic collision.

On September 22, 1960, Menlo Park Police Officer John W. Lyle died in the line of duty. Menlo Park Police Department’s first and only officer to have died in the line of duty. Lyle, 29, had served as a Menlo Park officer for the past 8 years.

On that September day Lyle followed an occupied stolen car into a downtown Menlo Park parking lot. He blocked the vehicle when it attempted to leave, and he contacted the driver. The 22-year-old car thief, Roy Henry (‘Hook’) Lane, Jr. from Stockton, exchanged gunfire with Lyle killing him in the gunfight. The shooter then fled on foot and was captured near the scene where the he admitted to the murder.

Witnesses said after Lyle fell face down on the pavement during the shoot out, Lane stepped from the car and, standing over him, fired directly into the body. One of the four bullets which struck Lyle entered the back of his head and passed through his brain, according to the San Mateo County Coroner’s office. Besides the bullet in Lyle’s head, another was found in his solar plexus, and two more waist high. Either of the first two shots would have been fatal, according to the coroner’s office. Lyle died at the scene.

Lane was well known to Stockton officers. He had an extensive criminal past beginning when he was a juvenile, including thefts and carrying concealed weapons. The Stockton Chief described Lane as, “mean by nature.” Lane was convicted of the murder of Officer John Lyle and sentenced to death. He was executed in November 1962, at San Quentin state prison.

Lyle, known to family and friends as “Jack,” is remembered as a generous man, full of humor, a devoted husband and father who, according to his wife Norma, wanted a “houseful of children.” He was born in the Chicago, Illinois suburb of Oak Park.

He was 18 when his family moved to Menlo Park in 1949 where he met Norma, the girl next door, on the day he moved in. They began a courtship speaking to each other over their backyard fence and were married in September 1950.

Mrs. Lyle remembers Jack’s initial disappointment at leaving the Midwest. He was active in his church and considered becoming a minister. He was also an avid ice hockey and soccer player, but Jack discovered he loved Menlo Park. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he decided he would settle there and raise his family. He later found new sports in sailing and target shooting becoming an expert marksman. His marksmanship was a skill his children and grandchildren would later acquire. He also enjoyed journalism. Despite the fact he enjoyed writing, his wife said she still typed all his college homework.

Lyle’s generous and caring nature was evident when working and taking college courses. Mrs. Lyle remembers that he would bring students home for supper after his classes. These were students who had no family in the area and surviving on very little while in college. Mrs. Lyle said she had a lot of spaghetti feeds and at times she would scramble to accommodate the extra guests that he invited along.

Police work just seemed a natural outlet for Lyle’s personality and many talents. He first joined the Menlo Park Police Department as a Reserve Police Officer. He attended San Jose State College police academy to qualify as a regular officer and was sworn in June 9, 1952.

In March 1960, Lyle received a letter of commendation from Menlo Park Police Chief George Potter for his part in rescuing children from a burning house in the Belle Haven neighborhood. Officers Ed Schild and Lyle spotted smoke coming from a house, called the fire department and kicked the front door open to rescue the Joseph Singh family. Lyle and Schild carried three youngsters, ages 7, 2 and 16 months, to their patrol car and turned on the heater to keep them warm. Due to their fast action, no one was injured.

In June 1960, Officer Lyle saved the life of a woman at a domestic violence call. The woman called police reporting her husband was stabbing the furniture and threatening to kill her with a knife. Lyle confronted the man, still wielding a large butcher knife at his wife, and threatening him too. The man refused all orders and warnings and when the man advanced on them he was shot and killed by Lyle, saving the woman. Lyle was exonerated and the shooting ruled justified, but he was left shaken by the whole experience. Four months later he was killed in the line of duty.

More than 700 officers and attendees honored the life of John W. Lyle at his funeral service on September 26, at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Officers marched in formation, escorting the hearse from the mortuary to the church. The funeral procession included all 40 members of the Menlo Park Police Department. Over 600 police and other law enforcement officers representing agencies from all over Northern California and the San Francisco peninsula joined over 100 family, friends and members of the community at the services. The Lyle children were 2, 4, 6 and 9 years old at the time.

Following the services, a procession followed Lyle’s hearse to Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto for internment.

Lyle was survived by his wife Norma, and their four children, daughters, Karen, Susan, Donna; and son, John W. Lyle, Jr.; and six grandchildren.

Lyle’s badge, number 3, was permanently retired from service in this honor.