Officer Thomas Wilson was on foot patrol when he was struck and killed by a car.

On December 19, 1923 at shortly after 6:30 a.m., Officer Wilson, out of the Woodland Avenue Station, had just called in to report from the phone box at 41st and Troost as he had since becoming a police officer in 1889. It was misting and still not light out and Officer Wilson had worked the over night shift. Officer Wilson stepped off of the curb into the street. The driver of a northbound car failed to see Officer Wilson in the dark and struck the veteran officer. A call was made to the police operator Bickett, who was Officer Wilson's daughter, who made the call for an ambulance. I Officer Wilson was taken to St Luke's Hospital for treatment but he died two hours later of his wounds including a skull fracture and a broken left leg. In a tragic twist the vehicle that struck Officer Wilson was driven by a friend of twenty years, City Market businessman Louis Becker.

Officer Wilson had been wounded in May 1920, when he saw a man point his gun at his wife at Third and May Streets. When Officer Wilson intervened the man shot Officer Wilson in the thigh.

Officer Wilson, 62, had been with the Kansas City Police Department for 34 years, joining in 1889. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son. Officer Wilson was the father-in-law of Officer Carl Bickett also killed in the line of duty in 1921.

Article by Brent Marchant