Shortly after midnight, November 18, 1938, Officers Henry Shipe and Paul Nichols were en route to a call when they collided with another patrol car carrying officers Art Brock and Vic Zahner. Officers Nichols had been driving on 11th Street and Officer Brock on Troost Avenue when the two cars met at the intersection. Both cars had been operating with their sirens at the time of the crash and had not heard the other approaching. Officer Nichol's car was hit on the passenger side and the car was propelled forward 76 feet before it was overturned. Officers Nichols, Brock, and Zahner sustained only minor injuries but Officer Shipe was thrown from the car and fatally injured. He died before the ambulance could reach Menorah Hospital. Officer Shipe had been a patrolman for a little more than a year at the time of his death.

Officer Shipe was survived by his wife.