Warren honors its fallen police

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Eighty-year-old Irving L. Baker Jr. says Christmastime still brings him sadness, even 79 years after his father, Warren policeman Irving L. Baker Sr., died after being injured while arresting a man at a downtown speakeasy during Prohibition.

“I still don’t like the sound of [the song] ‘Silent Night,’” Baker said. “I remember Mom singing ‘Silent Night’ and crying.”

Baker was only 16 months old when his father died on Jan. 6, 1933 — about a week after he suffered an injury while arresting a man causing a disturbance at Pine Avenue and Market Street.

“My dad was a friendly type of guy,” Baker said. “He was called to a bar for a brawl. The guy was a moose of a guy.”

Baker knew the man making the commotion and had arrested him before. It looked like the matter was about to be resolved peacefully because the man said, “‘OK, Baker, I’m ready to go,’” Irving Jr. said.

In those days, police didn’t have portable radios, but there were phones on call boxes in the city. The officer walked the suspect to a call box to have a vehicle dispatched to take him to jail.

The suspect, who was not in handcuffs, “decided he didn’t want to go. He turned and slammed him up against a wall,” Irving Jr. said.

“Dad hurt, but he felt he was all right.” Later that night, the officer started to cough up blood, so he went to a hospital. A week or so later, he died.

It wasn’t real clear at the time of his illness what was wrong, but finding out that the policeman’s lung had been punctured by a broken rib convinced the family that he’d died as a result of the fight, Irving Jr. said.

In recent years, Patrolman Brian Crites has been researching information on Baker and another Warren police officer killed in the line of duty, Chief Frank F. Flowers, who died in a car crash April 3, 1919.

Crites’ work has resulted in both officers’ being honored by inclusion in the Warren Police Memorial in 2006, Ohio Peace Officers Memorial in 2008 and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 2009.

This month, they were honored within the halls of the Warren Police Department, when Crites and fellow officer Christopher O’Rourke rescued a display case found in the basement of the police department. Crites had it restored and placed pictures and plaques inside honoring Baker and Flowers.

Irving Baker Jr. of Weathersfield and his son, Dan Baker of West Farmington, saw the display case for the first time last week.

“I appreciate what Brian did. It’s important not only for me, but to the officers serving,” Irving Jr. said.

“I like history, and it was good for the families, too,” Crites said of why he took on the project. “And it’s just important to honor these guys from Warren, Ohio.”

The display case has the words written on it “Roll of Honor” and “Presented by Lodge No. 34, Fraternal Order of Police.” It used to contain small photos of those who died while still employed as police officers. It was last displayed about 30 years ago. It was refinished before it was hung again on the wall near city council chambers at 141 South St.

The death of Chief Frank A. Flowers on March 3, 1919, resulted from a tragic accident in which Flowers was a passenger in a Packard automobile driven by “Chief Watkins” of the Youngstown Police Department. The men were traveling out of Warren on Niles Road.

A Warren newspaper article the next day said the vehicle was near Homewood Avenue Southeast when Watkins crossed the center lane to avoid a disabled car and misjudged the speed of a Mahoning Valley streetcar.

The Packard and streetcar collided, throwing the Packard off the road and hurling Flowers through the air about 20 feet. His head struck the ground, breaking his neck.

“A hurry call was put in for an ambulance, and the men then started to disengage Watkins from his position in the machine,” the article said.

The ambulance arrived quickly, and examination showed that Chief Flowers was still breathing. “Both men were put into the machine and rushed to the City hospital, but Flowers then breathed his last before they entered the hospital.”

The article said Chief Flowers was “a man much admired, and an official of unquestioned ability known nationally.”