Remembering CHP's Finest

Memorial fountain at the CHP Academy. Photo courtesy of CAHP Director Ron Cohan.

Since the California Highway Patrol was formed 75 years ago, over 200 officers have been killed on the job.

Howard Garlinger, assigned to the Kern Area, was the first Highway Patrolman to die. He was killed Oct. 30, 1929, in a motorcycle accident.

Over the years, officers were killed in aircraft crashes or drowned in the line of duty. Some were senselessly shot just because they wore a badge or were killed by reckless drivers plowing into CHP's bravest as they aided stranded motorists.

In 2005, we mourned the loss of four of our own. Officer David Romero was killed Sept. 23 when he was struck from the rear by an automobile while stopped at a red traffic signal on his patrol motorcycle. Just two months later Officer Andrew Stephens was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Woodland, Calif. The suspect subsequently fled the scene but later, he and two other suspects were arrested with the assistance of allied agencies.

In the month following Officer Stephens’ death, we experienced two more line-of-duty deaths, reaching a total of four in 2005. Forced to swerve to avoid colliding with a truck that had cut him off, Officer Erick Manny was fatally injured in a rollover accident on I-5 near the Grapevine exit. Only 10 days later, Lt. Michael Walker was aiding a stranded motorist on Highway 17 near Santa Cruz when a motorist struck a CalTrans truck that subsequently struck him, killing him.

The year 2006 did not start off well with two more line-of-duty deaths. In the early hours of Feb. 17, Officer Earl Scott was senselessly shot at a routine traffic stop just outside of Modesto, CA. Just over a week later Officer Gregory John Bailey pulled over a DUI suspect when another suspected DUI driver plowed into Bailey’s motorcycle and the vehicle of the violator he had stopped. That vehicle, in turn, struck and killed Officer Bailey.

At a recent ceremony honoring the Department's fallen highway guardians, CHP Chaplain Karl Hansen said, "They laid down their lives in the service of others. They unselfishly gave service despite losing their life." The courageous were someone's sons, husbands, uncles, brothers, daughters, wives, aunts and sisters who were proud to be CHP officers.

Hansen commented that the names etched at a memorial fountain at the Academy - dedicated in honor of the CHP's bravest - also "are etched in our memory and our hearts."

A listing of these names can be viewed via of the following links.

In July 12, 1995, 271 uniformed State Police officers of the State Police became part of the 5,713 sworn officers of the Highway Patrol. Prior to that date, several State Police officers also died in the line of duty. Select "State Police" below to see the page in honor of those fallen officers.