KCPD Memorial Lest We Forget
Honoring the Fallen
Officer
Ronald Dee Yoakum
Kansas City, MO Police Dept
EOW: Tuesday, November 26, 1968
Age: 21
DOB: February 15, 1947
Tour of Duty: 10 months
Cause: Gunfire
Weapon: Officer's revolver
Incident Location: Jackson CountyLocation: 3607 Paseo

On November 26, 1968, Officer Yoakum was killed during a disturbance in progress call.

Officer Yoakum was dispatched with Officers Mynatt and Smith on a disturbance at an apartment building at 3607 Paseo in regard to two men attempting to break into an apartment. Suspect Bobby Lane accompanied by Carl Primous was attempting to break into an apartment on the third floor of the building that Lane had previously occuppied. Officer Mynatt went into the apartment building at 9:45 pm without waiting for his backup. As Office Mynatt ascended the stairs with his service revolver drawn he first observed Bobby Lane with a knife in his hand and ordered him to drop his knife. Lane obeyed, dropping his knife to the floor. As Officer Mynatt continued to climb the stairs he observed Carl Primous with a butcher knife in his hand and ordered him to drop his knife. Both suspects lunged forward and grappled with Officer Mynatt striking him in the head and chest. Suspect Carl Primous disarmed Officer Mynatt, kicking him in the head, then held the revolver to Officer Mynatt's head. The two suspects left Officer Mynatt unharmed and descended the stairs with Primous still in possession of Officer Mynatt's revolver. As the suspects arrived at the second floor of the building they encountered the husband of the resident manager, Fletcher Lewis, who was armed with a shotgun and responding to assist the officer. Lane fired on Lewis striking him in the chest. Lewis returned fire with the shotgun as the suspects descended the stairs. The suspects encountered Officers Yoakum and Smith as the officers entered the front door of the building. Lane struggled with Officer Yoakum as they fell to the floor. Primous also fell to the floor and from a sitting position fired a semi-automatic pistol at Officer Yoakum striking him twice in the chest and once in the mouth. Officer Smith heard a gunshot and fired his revolver at Primous. Officer Smith fired again at Primous who ran down the hallway and again aimed his gun at Officer Smith who heard the pistol click but not fire as he fired again on Primous, inflicting two fatal gunshot wounds. Bobby Lane rose to his feet and grabbed the cylinder of Officer Smith's revolver and struggled with him until more officers arrived at the scene and took Lane into custody. Officer Mynatt was not injured. Officer Smith had not been aware of being injured during the battle but in the aftermath discovered he had received a gunshot wound to his upper arm. Three firearms, an unfired .380 semi-automatic pistol with a dent in the primer of the unfired round in the chamber, Officer Mynatt's revolver and Officer Yoakum's revolver were found on the hall floor. Officer Mynatt's revolver had been fired six times and Officer Yoakum's revolver had been fired once. Officer Smith's revolver had been fired four times. Officer Yoakum was pronounced dead on arrival at Menorah Hospital at 10:15 pm.

Bobby Lane was sentenced to life in prison for the murder. Lane appealed his conviction asserting that he was not the one who killed Officer Yoakum. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court determined that there was sufficient evidence to indicate Lane could have shot Officer Yoakum after obtaining the revolver from Primous in the stairwell and also that the trier of facts reasonably could find that the killing of Officer Yoakum during a fight with Lane was a part of one continuous episode and the result of a joint effort and common purpose of Lane and Primous to escape, by use of whatever means necessary, after their joint assault upon and robbery of Officer Mynatt, and Lane's shooting of Fletcher Lewis in the course of their flight down the stairway.

Officer Yoakum had served with the Kansas City Police Department for 10 months and previously served as a member of the Corps of Military Police for the United States Army. Interred: Highland Cemetery, Hamilton, Missouri.

Article by Brent Marchant

Kansas City Police Memorial