KCPD Memorial Lest We Forget
Honoring the Fallen
Officer
Thomas J. Wilson
Kansas City, MO Police Dept
EOW: Wednesday, December 19, 1923
Age: 62
Tour: 37 years
DOB:
Cause: Struck by car

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

On December 19, 1923 at shortly after 6 a.m., Officer Wilson 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, 62, had been with the Kansas City Police Department for 37 years. Officer Wilson was the father-in-law of Officer Carl Bickett also killed in the line of duty in 1921.

Article by Brent Marchant

Kansas City Police Memorial