Memorial to Raymond E. Grant
End of Watch: August 14, 1939
Rank: Officer, Badge No. N/A
Years of Service: N/A
Age: 29
Location of Death: Loughboro Road, NW
Circumstance:
Motorman Grant was assigned to the Seventh Precinct and was responding to a radio run when he lost control of his bike on Loughboro Road, NW.
Biography:
Motorman Grant was married with two children.
Articles from the Washington Post – transcribed by Dave Richardson, MPD/Ret.
THE DEATH OF OFFICER RAYMOND E. GRANT
PARTIAL WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED AUGUST 15, 1939, PAGE 1
POLICEMAN KILLED IN SKID
(Yesterday) a District policeman was killed when his motorcycle skidded as he answered a radio assignment. His death was the fifty-fourth this year in District traffic.
Motorcycle Policeman Raymond E. Grant, 29, was the victim. Responding to a radio call early yesterday, his motorcycle skidded rounding a curve on Loughborough Road, NW. He died of a skull fracture in Georgetown Hospital.
Policeman Grant, a member of the force for nearly four years, was the father of two children. He was speeding to a radio alarm of a prowler in the 4300 block of Forest Lane, NW, when killed.
Grant, investigators reported, was several feet in front of a scout car driven by Policeman B.T. Chapman. He was hurled to the pavement when his motorcycle slid from under him on a sharp curve.
Chapman took the injured officer to Georgetown Hospital, where he died at 7:30 a.m. Grant, attached to the Seventh Precinct, was appointed a motorcycle officer January 1.
His wife, Mrs. Grace Grant, and two sons, Edward, 3, and Lawrence, 2, survive.
Following the death of Patrolman Grant, the Georgetown Lions Club urged the substitution of scout cars for police motorcycles in Georgetown. Letters recommending the change will be sent to Maj. Ernest W. Brown, superintendent of police and the Commissioners.
Maj. Brown recommended to District Commissioners that motorcycle policemen be given an additional $120 a year because of the dangerous nature of their assignment. He said no policeman is now assigned to the motorcycle detail unless he asks for the transfer and motorcycle men now are paid $120 a year more than other policemen of equal rank.