Police Officer James A. "Gus" Gaines

James A. "Gus" Gaines

Police Officer Gus Gaines succumbed to injuries sustained when his motorcycle collided with a bicycle at Park Street and Wall Street in Beaumont.

On March 14th, around midnight, Officer Gaines was pursuing a stolen automobile on Park Street with extinguished headlights at a high rate of speed. As he approached Wall Street, the lights of an approaching car blinded him momentarily, and he turned his motorcycle towards the sidewalk. He ran into a boy on a bicycle and the boy's friend walking next to him. Officer Gaines was thrown from his motorcycle and struck the pavement with his head and shoulders.

Officer Gaines was transported to Hotel Dieu, where he succumbed to his injuries at 6:45 pm the next day.

The youths were not seriously injured.

Officer Gaines had served with the Beaumont Police Department for three months. He was survived by his wife, mother, two sisters, brother, two half-sisters, and a half-brother.