HOWARD B TAFT
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Officer Rank: Patrolman
Memorial Panel: 39-W: 14
Department: Elyria, Ohio, P.D.
End of Watch: August 18, 1942
Cause: SHOT
Age: 29
Years of Service: 1
Description: Officer Taft was taking a fellow officer home, when he was radioed to investigate a minor accident. Determining that the driver was drunk, he got into the car to drive him to the station, with the other officer following behind in the cruiser. Officer Taft left the car to free a front fender that was scraping a tire, when the intoxicated man took the keys. Officer Taft ordered that he be given the keys and was shot from within the car. The two men grappled, with Taft sustaining gunshot wounds in the abdomen and hip, and the suspect being killed instantly with shots to the heart. Officer Taft was rushed to the hospital where he died 90 minutes later.
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