Officer Clyde Harrison was shot and killed while attempting a traffic stop.

On December 20, 1951 at 10:40 pm, Officers Clyde W. Harrison, 43, and Richard J. Staab, 37, were attempting to stop a car that had just made an illegal left turn, at Truman and Oak. The officers pulled abreast the vehicle and Officer Staab ordered the two male occupants to pull to the side of the road when the men in the car fired on them. Officer Harrison was mortally wounded, dying on the way to the hospital from a gunshot wound to the left temple. Officer Staab injured, wounded in the shoulder during the incident was treated and released at the hospital. Detectives discovered the abandoned suspect vehicle, a 1959 Buick with Michigan license plates, and bullet holes in the right passenger door window, 45 minutes after the shooting at 20th and Walnut Streets with footprints of two men leading away from the car in the snow. The vehicle was determined that it had been newly stolen from a retired insurance agent from Michigan visiting his sister in Kansas City. A cab driver contacted during the investigation advised police that he had picked up two men near the location where the car was abandoned and transported the men, who were unfamiliar with the area, to a hotel near 12th and Baltimore. A $1000 reward was offered for the men's arrest. On December 24th, Perry Nelson Smith (21), who was in police custody and out on bond for another shooting, admitted he had shot at the police car when they attempted a traffic stop. His accomplice, William D. Yewell (22), was shot by Kansas City detectives later on December 24, 1951, when he opened fire on detectives with a .38 caliber revolver outside Yewell's mothers residence. The revolver was discovered to be the weapon used to kill Officer Harrison.

Officer Harrison joined the Kansas City Police Department on October 8, 1942, serving a total of 9 years, and had worked on the crime prevention patrol for two years. Officer Harrison was survived by his wife, Evelyn Harrison, and two children. Interred: Floral Hills Cemetery.