50 years ago today - my grandfather was shot and killed by bank robbers while on duty and today the CHP continues to recognize his "end of watch" on the CHP Officer Glenn Carlson Memorial Bypass.

Officer Carlson, stopped a speeding Cadillac convertible in a chain control area outside Truckee and issued a citation. Shortly after, he learned the license plate had been stolen from a used car lot in Sacramento, he radioed for backup as he began to chase them down. Turns out these men were fleeing from the biggest bank heist in the history of Sacramento. Driver Robert Burns a parolee from Oregon (robbery and assault) and parolees Roger Mealman and Clifford Toycen Jr.

When he pulled them over a second time in front of Loch Leven Lodge by Donner Lake and ordered them back, Mealman got out of the car and shot him five times with a 9mm pistol, piercing the citation he had just written, later bragging that the force of the gunshots blew him off the road.

At the time, my grandpa was 33 years old, my uncle was 7, my mom was 5, turning 6 in a week, and my other uncle was only 3, turning 4 the NEXT day. My grandma and grandpa were in the process of building their mountain dream home in Truckee, one that would be finished with the support of the community, where I have so many fond memories as a child and am so grateful for the new owner who embraces it's legacy.

Though I don't want my blog or his memory to be made political as a distraction from a true tragedy. The failure of the prison system cannot go unmentioned as the three men all originally met while in prison serving other sentences, and Burns never finished serving his sentence, ending his days a free man in Oregon.

At the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in Washington DC I am so thankful for Don Westbrook, the man I would grow up knowing as my Poppa and amazed at the strength of my grandma to continue on and make a home as a blended family (my poppa was also a widow with five kids of his own) but I am so sorry I never had the opportunity to know "min morfar" the man behind my Swedish roots.

So whenever you drive on the Highway 267 bypass - you can think of my grandpa, a life cut short, all the people who loved and lost him, and those who just try to live in his memory. California ZephyrCalifornia Zephyr