Police Officer William L. Rickabaugh

William L. Rickabaugh

Police Officer Bill Rickabaugh was killed when he rode into a steel cable that had been strung across the entrance to a construction zone for the San Tomas Freeway.

He had observed two boys trespassing and riding a motorcycle on what is now the San Tomas Expressway, near Monroe Street and Los Padres Boulevard. Officer Rickabaugh rode his motorcycle up a dirt ramp and collided with a metal cable that had been stretched between two posts. The cable impacted his chest.

A citizen began CPR on Officer Rickabaugh, who was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Officer Rickabaugh was a U.S. Navy veteran and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery. He survived by his wife and two children.