Officer Clinton Maxwell Osthimer

Officer Clinton Maxwell Osthimer | Wabash Police Department, Indiana
Wabash Police Department, Indiana
Officer Clinton Maxwell Osthimer

Wabash Police Department, Indiana

End of Watch Tuesday, January 19, 1943

Clinton Maxwell Osthimer

Officer Clinton Osthimer was shot and killed after making a traffic stop.

Officer Osthimer and another officer had stopped a vehicle for running a stop sign and drunken driving after a short pursuit. The suspect was arrested and while being transported to the jail, he produced a .38-caliber semi-automatic revolver.

The suspect then shot Officer Osthimer in the throat severing his jugular vein and attempted to shoot the other officer, but the gun jammed. When the other officer knocked the gun from the suspect's hand, he exited the squad car and fled on foot, but was recaptured about two blocks away. Officer Osthimer was transported to Wabash County Hospital and was dead on arrival.

At the time of his arrest, unknown to the officers, the suspect was driving a stolen vehicle, wanted for larceny and was absent without leave from the military. The suspect was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The suspect escaped from prison in 1969, but was found living under an assumed name in Alabama 10 years later. While awaiting extradition to Indiana, the suspect died.

Officer Osthimer had served with the Wabash Police Department for four years.

Bio

  • Age 34
  • Tour 4 years
  • Badge 7

Incident Details

  • Cause Gunfire
  • Weapon Handgun; .38 caliber
  • Offender Died in 1979
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I remember this happening. It was cold. The police car was returning southbound to the police station at Wabash and Main Street. The shooting occurred in front of the Lincoln statue. The car swerved to the alley on the east side and crashed into a grocery store entrance on the south side of the alley. The shooter jumped out, ran up the hill east in the alley to the next block. He hid in a barn on the alley. The barn belonged to the local veterinarian, who parked his car in the barn. When the Dr. went out to get his car he heard something and notified the police who were searching the neighborhood for the shooter. The police apprehended the shooter. I think policeman Bob Marks and Policeman Fred Aukerman both told me this account. Police search procedures were changed, the shooter had the gun stuck down the front of his pants and it was not found.

James Rex Sims
Born Wabash 1928, Miami grade school, Jr High, Graduated WHS 1946,

June 6, 2018

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