Honour Roll

1985-06-29

Age: 31

Constable McLaughlin was operating an unmarked police cruiser west on Highway 17. Constable McLaughlin pulled onto the west bound shoulder then abruptly made a U-turn. His cruiser collided with a tractor trailer also traveling westbound. His injuries were fatal.

1984-11-16

Age: 38

PC Miller of the Matheson Detachment had arrived at Joe's Texaco and was in the restaurant when a young man entered with a 12 gauge shotgun, approached Constable Miller from behind and shot and killed him. The assailant was disarmed by another Constable and a restaurant patron.

The accused was arrested at the scene, charged and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years. The Town of Matheson renamed the local arena the Vern Miller Memorial Arena.

1984-10-09

Age: 26

At 0011 hours October 9, 1984 Constable Grant observed a vehicle being operated dangerously and gave pursuit. The pursued vehicle quickly outdistanced the officer's and under the cover of fog reversed his direction and headed back towards the officer. As the driver approached the officer, he swerved sharply crashing into Grant's vehicle killing him instantly.

A 19 year old, who had stolen his parent's vehicle while upset over an argument with his girlfriend, escaped the crash unharmed. He removed the weapon from the dead officer and fatally shot himself in a nearby field.

1984-10-07

Age: 56

On October 7, 1984 Constable Ross with other members of the Woodstock OPP, the Woodstock City Police and the No. 2 District Tactics and Rescue Unit were following up a tip that two murder suspects were at a Woodstock residence. Constable Ross and Constable R. Thompson were confronted by one of the suspects. Constable Ross was shot and killed, and Corporal R. Thompson was wounded.

The suspect who shot Constable Ross continued shooting at police and was shot dead at the scene. He was on day parole from Prison in Kingston. The second suspect held police off for 20 hours before giving himself up. He was charged and convicted, later taking his life while in prison serving a life sentence.

1984-09-18

Age: 40

On Tuesday, September 18, 1984 Constable David Dunmore was on duty with his partner, Constable Bradley Bested. An all points broadcast advised all units to look for a stolen vehicle whose occupants had threatened two persons with a gun. Constables Dunmore and Bested spotted this car in the Royal York/Queensway area and immediately took up pursuit. As the officers attempted to pull the stolen car over, the driver braked sharply forcing them to stop in front of the stolen vehicle. The suspect jumped from the car and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. Constable Dunmore, a front seat passenger, was fatally wounded before he had an opportunity to get out of the car. Constable Bested returned fire and the suspect fled by foot.

Several blocks away, the suspect, Gary White, was confronted by two police officers who returned his fire. Gary White was fatally wounded.

1984-08-26

Age: 24

Constables Chatterson and MacDonald were traveling northbound on Highway 21 at approximately 2145 hrs. May 2, 1975 when they collided head on with a truck traveling southbound. Both officers died at the scene. Maurice was from the Forest Detachment.

The culprit, following the attack, took the Constable's service revolver and committed suicide.

1984-08-21

Age: 49

At 2208 hours, August 19, 1984 Constable Tribbling responded to a burglar alarm at a business premise in Markham. He was found moments later by fellow officers in the building on the floor with multiple bullet wounds in his chest. He died in hospital August 21.

Constable Tribbling was the first officer of York Regional Police Force to be killed on duty since its inception in 1971. On March 23, 1988 after a lengthy investigation, Ronald Carlton York of Toronto was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of Constable Tribbling. York had an extensive record for break and enters and other theft related offences. At the time of the shooting he was out on bail for two similar offences.

1984-04-21

Age: 33

On April 21, 1984 the body of Corporal W.F. McIntyre was found in his apartment in Oakville. He had been shot in the head by an unknown assailant.

This case is still unsolved.

1983-10-14

Age: 38

On Friday, October 14, 1983, Constable Utman was assigned to work the Bayshore subdivision area. Shortly before noon he issued a parking ticket to an illegally parked vehicle at the Bayshore Shopping Centre. He then entered the mall and began a foot patrol of the mall concourse prior to meeting a friend for coffee at the Gourmet Fair Restaurant. After a short conversation at the restaurant, attention was drawn to Peter Michael Collins, who was standing immediately to the right of their table with his arms extended, holding a handgun with both hands aimed at Constable Utman. Collins ordered the officer to get up because he was going to shoot him. Constable Utman looked up at Collins as one shot was fired at him. The bullet missed Constable Utman and lodged in the wall behind and to the right of him. Again, Constable Utman was ordered to get up. As he rose from his seat, Collins backed away continuing to point the gun at the officer. Constable Utman, holding his night stick in his right hand, slowly approached Collins and tried to convince him to turn over the gun. Collins continued to shout at the officer. When both Collins and Constable Utman were in the mall concourse Collins invited the officer to draw his gun. Constable Utman continued trying to convince Collins to hand over his gun. At that point Collins fired his second shot hitting Constable Utman in the right chest. Constable Utman fell forward unconscious. Collins approached the officer and removed his service revolver from the holster. He then fled on foot along the lower level of the north concourse of the mall followed by several witnesses. At one point inside the Eaton's store he turned and fired his third shot from one of the revolvers into the ceiling and then fired his fourth shot from the other revolver down the mall concourse in the direction of the persons pursuing him. After leaving the mall, Collins was seen running east toward the Penny Drive project.

About an hour later, Constable Utman died in hospital of his wounds. Collins was arrested (Constable Utman's revolver was found in his possessions), charged with first degree murder, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole for 25 years.

1983-09-25

Age: 47

While on patrol from the Goderich Detachment Constable Crew accompanied by Constable Jack Straughan were dispatched to assist a Goderich Police Force unit involved in a high speed chase. As they approached a series of two hills known as Porters Hills on County Road 18 they saw the car approaching them at high speed. It braked and skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. The OPP cruiser pulled up to the suspect vehicle to block its escape while calling to advise the dispatch to tell the Goderich cruiser of their location. Officer Crew stepped from the cruiser and walked to the suspect's car to remove the ignition keys when the Goderich cruiser came over the hill. It skidded down the hill, struck the car, Officer Crew and the OPP cruiser. PC Crew was fatally injured.

The lack of direct radio communications between the OPP cruiser and the Municipal cruiser was cited as a contributing factor to the collision.