Officer Willis Wood "Johnny" Sides

Willis Wood "Johnny" Sides

Officer Johnny Sides succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained on January 22nd, 1951, when he was shot after he and his partner stopped a vehicle for running a red light near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

As they approached the vehicle the four men opened fire on them, striking Officer Sides in his abdomen and wounding his partner. The suspects were arrested two days later in Arkansas after a county sheriff used a rock to subdue them.

The men were suspects for the December 1950 wounding of a Mississippi Department of Public Safety trooper. All four men were convicted of murdering Officer Sides. One, 21, and his 32-year-old uncle were executed; one on March 12, 1952, and the other on April 9, 1952. On June 27, 1951, the other two men, 19 and 23, were sentenced 99 years each.

Officer Sides had served with the Dallas Police Department for three months. He was survived by his parents, brother, and two sisters.