Bio & Incident Details
Age: 68
Tour: 31 years
Badge # Not available
Cause: Assault
Incident Date: 8/2/1940
Weapon: Person
Suspect: Not available
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Officer Patterson succumbed to injuries sustained when he was kicked in the groin while trying to arrest a man about three weeks earlier. He was helping a military police officer arrest an escaped patient from the Veterans Administration facility. Officer Patterson died from complications after surgery for the injury.
Officer Patterson was a gifted athlete who originally came to Battle Creek to play baseball. He was a member of several amateur and semiprofessional teams and also coached. He was coach of the Battle Creek Central High School baseball team that won a state championship in 1907.
On December 31, 1999, a portion of East State Street adjacent to the department headquarters was renamed "John W. Patterson Way."
