Age:  28
Served:  1½ years
Sept. 22, 1928 to March 20, 1930

On March 19, 1930, Patrolman Sandlin, of 900 Auburn Avenue, saw a vehicle that he suspected belonged to bootleggers.  He called for rookie Patrolman Roy Crout to meet him and stake out the automobile.  Before long, 38-year-old Middletown resident Richard Brewer and 49-year-old New Castle, IN, resident Wilson Griffin came out of the house and drove away in the car.   

The officers stopped the car on South Avenue east of Crawford Street.  As they approached the vehicle, Brewer jumped out and Patrolman Sandlin caught him, but Brewer shot him in the abdomen.  Griffin then jumped out and ran and Patrolman Crout shot at him, striking him four times.  The vehicle was loaded with illegal whiskey.

Griffin and Patrolman Sandlin were rushed to Middletown Hospital.  Patrolman Sandlin died three hours later from a bullet wound to the lung during the morning of March 20, 1930.  Griffin died on March 26, 1930, of peritonitis due to a bullet wound of the bowel.

Patrolman Sandlin was survived by his wife, Mabel, and three sons.  He was buried March 22, 1930, in Woodside Cemetery.

On March 21, 1930, Deputy Sheriff Davidson, Detectives Frazier, Bauer, and Davis, and Sergeant Floyd Pierce of the Big Four Railroad Police captured Brewer at Kyle's Station in Butler County.  He had been recently released from a Kentucky prison, on parole for killing a Clayton, KY, man.  During May 1930, at his first trial for First Degree Murder, the jurors were unable to agree on a verdict.  In November 1930, another panel found him guilty of the reduced charge of Manslaughter after deliberating 15 hours.  He was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison.

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