Officer Clyde Lamar Elsberry

Clyde Lamar Elsberry

Officer Clyde Elsberry succumbed to injuries sustained the previous days when he was run down by two escaped convicts, while pursuing them on Moreland Avenue, near Burns Street. He had driven his motorcycle next to the car the convicts were driving and ordered them to pull over, but the driver instead struck him. Moments later they ran over and killed a 17-year-boy on his motorcycle. Their vehicle's speed, estimated at 100 mph was found crashed near the scene. From the time of their escape until capture they crashed into several parked cars.

The two escapes, 27 and 33, were driving a stolen prison station wagon. One was captured a block away. The other stole a pickup truck. Later that day he was shot and then arrested by Atlanta Police when he refused to pullover. The two suspects, with a history of escapes, were trustees at the Dekalb County Prison Camp. They had been allowed, " unsupervised", to operate a nearby county owned filling station. Both were charged with two counts of murder. One was serving a 60 year sentence for robbery and the other five years for auto theft. The 33-year-old driver of the prison car got a life sentence added to his 60 year term. The other suspect was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and got two 5 year terms added to his existing 5 year term. He was paroled in 1959 but in that same year he was sent back to prison for 5 years after he was caught in Pell, Alabama, with a stolen car.

Officer Elsberry had served with the Atlanta Police Department for five years. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, mother, five brothers, and sister.