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In 1940, the police commission approved the purchase of a three wheel motorcycle. This motorcycle was purchased for the issuance of parking tickets. Prior to this purchase, issuing tickets was a two officer job. The department used a motorcycle/sidecar, with one officer driving and one officer issuing the tickets. Motorcycles were a primary means of transportation for the department in the early half of the century. Researching this book I have been surprised at how much they were utilized. I believe the main reason for this was the cost of a motorcycle, compared to a vehicle. Many officers were injured riding the motorcycles however.

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Officer Ken Payne was killed in 1946 in a motorcycle crash and I found many accounts of officers injured on them. Lt. Ogilvy was injured when his motorcycle went out of control as he was riding in a Veterans Day Parade in 1948. The kick stand went down and caught on the pavement, throwing the motorcycle out of control. Luckily he was not injured severely. Officer Katopol was injured on July 5, 1949, as he rode his police motorcycle into the intersection of Detroit and Fifth. A car made a left turn in front of him and struck him, throwing him off the motorcycle, leaving him with minor injuries. These are just a few of the many motorcycle accidents involving Ann Arbor Officers.

Some motorcycle accidents were unusual, as Officer Harrison Schlupe found out in 1941. Officer Schlupe was on his motorcycle, conducting traffic control for a parade. He parked his motorcycle on Fourth Ave. and Huron, but left it running as he closed the intersection, so the parade could pass by. A fascinated citizen walked up to the parked motorcycle, revved up the engine, which vibrated it and threw it into gear. The motorcycle hurtled riderless down the street with Officer Schlupe in fast pursuit. The bike eventually flopped down and began floundering on the pavement where it was apprehended by Officer Schulpe!

Train Derailment at the Michigan Depot

On September 15, 1940, a Michigan Central train derailed in front of railroad station on Depot, now home of the Gandy Dancer restaurant. Many do not realize that railroads were the major mode of transportation during this period of time.

The train was heading into the station at 30 mph when it began ripping up track near the Broadway Bridge. The trained continued until it derailed in front of the passenger station. The train started on fire and a transient, Walter Flinn, who had jumped on the train at its origin, was killed and burned beyond recognition. Officers Rolland Wurster and Frederick Young were waiting for the arrival of the train as they were going to make a money escort with train personnel. As they were watching the train come into the station they could observe it start to rise off of the tracks and then derail. All of the officers on duty responded to the scene to assist. Eventually several thousand on-lookers made their way to the train station.

The train burned while officers assisted an injured man who was underneath the bridge, near Broadway. This man, Edward McHugh, was severely injured as his arms and legs were badly burned, as he was trapped in the debris. He had managed to free himself and told the officers he was on the tenth car in back of the engine and did not observe anything unusual.

The fire department extinguished the blaze while the officers spoke to the engineer. The engineer, C.E. Kingsley, did not observe anything which would have caused the train to derail. He stated the engine just began tipping and finally derailed. After the fire was extinguished, officers discovered the badly burned body of Flinn.

Investigators were at a loss as to what had caused the derailment until a very observant citizen, Bernall Tindall, found a flattened spike nearby and turned it over to the railroad police.

An alert railroad officer, Captain R.R.Dwyer, observed Nicholas Katopodis standing near the origin of the wreck and took down his name. Captain Dwyer did not know what had caused the train to derail, but his experience told him it might not have been an accident. He spoke with Katopodis but had no reason to hold him and he left the area. Once the captain heard the train was derailed, due to the flattened spike, he advised the city police of his contact with Katopodis.

Sgt. Gehringer made contact with Katopodis and he initially denied placing the spike on the railroad tracks. Sgt. Gehringer was suspicious of his story and continued questioning Katopodis, who eventually admitted his involvement. He told Sgt. Gehringer that he was not trying to derail the train, but thought the train would knock the spike off.

Katopodis was taken to the train derailment and showed the officers the spot he placed the spike. This was the location the officers believed the original one was and it was clear to them he was responsible for the train derailment.

The detectives also found that Katopodis had recently been released from a mental institution. He was formally charged with the derailment of a train, which carried a life sentence. Chief Cook said the youth would probably be committed to a state mental institution, due to the youth's “mental backwardness.” On October 31, 1940, Katopodis was committed to a state mental hospital for life and was pronounced insane by the court.

Boy Scouts Assist Police Department

Police manpower was always a source of concern when a major incident occurred and the department often had to look to the public for assistance. On many occasions the boy scouts were called in to assist at these scenes.

An example of this occurred on June 24, 1940, when the scouts were called in to assist in the search of a missing person. Over 35 boy scouts searched for this missing person, who had been reported missing by his family. Officers could not locate the man and called in the boy scouts to expand the search area. When the scouts arrived they began searching through a section of woods on the city's southwest side. The scouts discovered the body of the missing man, hanging from a tree. Investigation found that he had been despondent over ill health.

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