Kern County Sheriff's Office, California
End of Watch: Wednesday, October 23, 1974
Age: 37
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Drowned
Date of Incident: October 23, 1974
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Reserve Deputy Charles Banning drowned attempting to recover a vehicle from a canal. He had recovered a body from the submerged vehicle and returned to the car to attach a tow hook. After surfacing an called to those on the bank to retrieve the car he suddenly went under again and failed to surface.
Two detectives immediately dove into the canal but could not locate him. His body was pulled from the canal by a special deputy a short time later.