Badge: P347
Age: 40
Served: 4 years 2 months
July 7, 1996 to September 1, 2000

On September 1, 2000, about 12:43 a.m., Police Officer Kevin Crayon found a 12 year old, Courtney Mathis, sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1996 Ford Taurus in the United Dairy Farmers parking lot at 5564 Colerain Avenue.  As Officer Crayon approached Mathis to inquire as to his age, Mr. Anthony Bell and his family parked his vehicle to the right of and behind the Taurus.  Officer Crayon mentioned to Mr. Bell that Mathis looked too young to drive and Mathis revved the engine and put the Taurus in reverse.  At this time, the Bells had exited their car and inadvertently walked toward the path of the Taurus.  Officer Crayon yelled, “Hold up!  Hold up!  There are kids behind the car!”  Officer Crayon ran to and reached into the car to turn the key.  Mathis accelerated through the lot, dragging Officer Crayon.  Mathis drove the car onto Colerain Avenue, driving south at a high rate of speed and zigzagging back and forth.  Officer Crayon freed his right hand, drew his sidearm, and fired one shot striking Mathis in the left chest.  Whatever Mathis was doing to hold Officer Crayon he stopped and Officer Crayon fell to the roadway, slid across the pavement, and struck a stationary 1995 Cadillac at Colerain Avenue and North Bend Road.  The impact killed him instantly.  Mathis continued on Colerain, striking a Chevrolet Cavalier, and then onto his residence at 5426 Bahama Terrace and announced to his mother that he was shot by the Police.  The Cincinnati Fire Division transported him to Children’s Hospital where he died a few hours later.

Officer Crayon, a United States Army veteran, was survived by his mother, Barbara Crayon Allbright; three children, Kevin Curtis II, Christopher Keith, and Brittany Denise; and four siblings, Vincent Toran, Shawn Anthony Crayon, Keith Andre Albright, and Vicki Denise Travis.  Reverend Jim Vickers, Jr. officiated over funeral services at the Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church in Woodlawn, Ohio.  From there hundreds of regional police officers escorted Officer Crayon to his final resting place in Oak Hill Cemetery, Glendale, Ohio.  His pallbearers included Police Officers Kevin Brown, Brian Norris, Joe Grady, Joehonny Reese, William Keuper, and Robert Posey.

The Police Division retired Badge No. P347, the 20th badge number to be retired for a line of duty death.

If you have further information, artifacts, or pictures of this officer, please contact the Museum Director at Director@GCPHS.com.