Recipients 2006

Officer Stoner worked for the Aberdeen Police department, and during those days, the department did not have all their officers patrolling in vehicles.  Most worked a foot beat.  On February 7, 1937, a youth was driving erratically, and was alleged to have been involved in a hit and run accident with a motorcycle.  Officer Stoner was notified and commandeered a civilian vehicle, which was common for those days, and gave chase.  Officer Stoner was standing on the running board of the vehicle, and was yelling commands at the youth to pull over.  As the suspect’s vehicle was coming to a stop, Officer Stoner either jumped from the running board of the commandeered vehicle, or was thrown, and landed on the pavement hitting his head.  Officer Stoner got up, in a dazed manner, took custody of the youth and began to investigate the case.  Shortly after, he became extremely sick, was taken to the hospital by a fellow officer, where he went into unconsciousness.  He later died of a slow hemorrhage to the brain.

On March 16, 2005, Officer Jackson V. Lone was working in the Harbor Unit of the Seattle Police Department.  He and his partner were working Patrol Boat #4.  As they neared the west end of the Ship Canal, they observed a tugboat that had become partially unmoored.  The location was in the vicinity of a large industrial sand and gravel processing plant.  The tugboat could be described a derelict boat.  It was usually secured to the shore with three separate mooring lines.  On this day, the bowline had come undone and the bow of the tugboat was being pushed by the wind into the navigation lane of the ship canal. 

Officer Lone went to shore and contacted the office personnel at the sand and gravel office.  The office staff told Officer Lone that they had called the owner of the tugboat earlier and left a message.  The officers decided they would attempt to re-secure the tugboat’s bowline to the shore.  Officer Lone’s partner maneuvered the bow of Patrol #4 against the starboard side of the tug and pushed it toward the shore until the keel of the tug hit bottom and prevented any further movement.  Attempts to secure the tug to shore were fruitless as the bowline was too short. Officer Lone obtained a handling line from the patrol boat, attached the handling line to the end of the mooring line, and then secured that line to a tree. 

Once the mooring line had been attached to the tree, Officer Lone’s partner, who had been keeping pressure on the bow of the tug to assist Officer Lone in securing the mooring, backed off and hailed for Officer Lone to return to the stern of the tug so he could be picked up. 

When Officer Lone did not return to the stern of the tug, his partner began a search and located the pike pole floating between the shore and tug, with Officer Lone’s float coat drifting near the stern of the tug.  His partner notified the Harbor station and immediately donned his dive equipment.  Officer Lone’s body was found in about six feet of water.  Because there were no witnesses, what ultimately caused his fall into the water is unknown.  Officer Lone was an 18 year veteran of the Seattle Police Department.