James P. Wylie

Monday, November 27, 1911

Wylie, James P.

Rank: Policeman

Serial Number: Unknown

Division: Unknown

Location: Spring St. between 6th and 7th.

Date Killed: Monday, November 27, 1911

Cause of Death: Police Vehicle Collision

Bio:

James P. Wylie was the son of a farmer named
William Wylie, who with his wife Martha raised their family in
Million, Kentucky. James was born in 1881, and was the second of
five children born to the couple in Madison County, Kentucky. All
the Wylie children including James would serve as farm hands,
helping their father toil away on the family farm.

While in his mid twenties, James moved to Los Angeles, California,
which was then a budding town. On August 30, 1907, James became a
Los Angeles police officer. In November 1911, Officer Wylie was a
boarder living at 106 West Tenth Street.

On the morning of November 27, 1911, James P. Wylie was reporting
for duty at the old Central Station, which was located at the
southeast corner of First and Broadway Streets. At the time, Wylie
served as the crossing officer at First and Main Street, where
today's PAB and City Hall are now located.

Wylie had just finished his breakfast on Spring Street and was
reporting for Day watch around 9:00 a.m. As Wylie crossed Spring
Street between Sixth and Seventh Street, he failed to see a coach
traveling southbound on Spring. Wylie was struck and rendered
unconscious. The force of the coach's impact caused paralysis to
Wylie's left side. He held on tenuously to life through the day but
would succumb to his injuries later that evening. Officer Krug and
Greeley rushed to the gravely injured officer. Only six months
earlier, Greeley had responded to the aid of another fallen
officer, Arthur B. Crusey.

Officer Wylie was 29 years old when he died. He was the seventh
officer killed in the line of duty and the first to die as a result
of a traffic collision with a motor vehicle.



Lieutenant J. A. Macias, #27710, LAPD