The night of October 22, 1929, Officer George Johnson was on motorcycle traffic patrol duty when he lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a Fairmont Park street car that was stopped at the intersection of Sixth Street and Grand Avenue. He died of his injuries the following day, October 23, 1929.

Officer Johnson spent several years doing mounted patrol work, including the past year at the William Cullen Bryant School as a traffic patrolman for the school children with whom he was extremely popular. Officer Johnson had been with the police department for six years at the time of his death.