Badge No. P465
Age: 36
Served almost 9 years
September 25, 1966, to August 26, 1975

On August 26, 1975, Police Officer Loftin, of 1182 North Lynnbrook Drive, and Police Officer Claude Dell, both of whom were assigned to the Central Vice Control Section, were conducting and investigation in the area of the Clock Bar at 3450 Burnet Avenue.  About 10:45 p.m., 53-year-old Cleophus Collins, of 123 Ehrman, entered the bar and told the bartender that he wanted a gun and that he was going to shoot a cop.  Minutes later, in front of the Burnet Fruit Market, also in the 3400 block of Burnet, a citizen approached Officers Loftin and Dell sitting in a car and pointed to Collins stating that he had a gun.  As the witness said this, Collins pulled a .38 caliber revolver and fired a shot in the air.  The officers came out of their car and Collins shot another round into the air.  The officers, from a few feet away, yelled, “Police Officers!  Drop the gun!”  Collins wheeled and shot Officer Loftin in the abdomen at point blank range.  Both officers returned fire and Officer Loftin called over his police radio for assistance, adding, “I’m shot!  I’m shot!”  Collins ran to an automobile and fled the scene, but was pulled over south on Melish Avenue (now Martin Luther King Drive) by Officers Robb and Payton of District 7.  They found Collins unarmed and wounded in the abdomen.  Both Officer Loftin and Collins were transported to General Hospital.  Officer Loftin died at 11:15 p.m. becoming the third officer gunned down in little more than a year.

During a search at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, investigators found Collins’s revolver in a wooded area near the scene of the murder.

Officer Loftin was survived by his mother and a fiancée, Janet Walker.  On August 30, 1975, at 9:45 a.m., 175 police cars from Cincinnati and agencies within 200 miles of Cincinnati formed a procession at Cincinnati Police Headquarters, 310 Lincoln Park Drive (now Ezzard Charles Drive) to the First Baptist Church, 6210 Betts Avenue in West College Hill.  From there, they escorted Officer Loftin to his grave at Spring Grove Cemetery.  Pallbearers were Police Officers James Simon, Lawrence Handorf, David Steinwert, James McCain, Marvin Johnson, and Arthur Manigan.  Honorary pallbearers were Police Chief Carl V. Goodin and the five assistant chiefs.

Also on August 30, the Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted Collins on charges of Aggravated Murder and Attempt Aggravated Murder, both with Police Officer specifications and the cases were assigned to Judge William A. McClain.  Eventually, Collins was convicted and sentenced to death.  The sentence was commuted to Life Imprisonment due to a Supreme Court action making him eligible for parole.  Each time he came up for parole, numerous citizens wrote letters to the parole board and he was never released.  Shortly after a failed attempt at parole in 2007, Collins died of natural causes. 

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