END OF WATCH: July 29, 1935
Cleveland Police Department
Age: 28
Harold Beingesser was appointed to the Cleveland Police Department on April 1, 1931 and was assigned to the Thirteenth Precinct on East 80th Street and Superior Avenue. On June 14, 1934, Beingesser was transferred to the detective bureau.
Detectives Harold Beingesser and Harry McCue were assigned to bring back Clarence Henderson, a former water department employee wanted for embezzling fifteen hundred dollars from the city. The two detectives tracked Henderson to a sugar beet farm in Wood County near Toledo. They obtained assistance from Chief Galliher of Bowling Green and Marshal Tatham and his deputy.
The men arrived at the farm and found Henderson sleeping in a shack. When they woke him, he and his friends fought with the officers and was eventually taken into custody. On the way back to Cleveland, Beingesser drove while McCue rode in the back with Henderson. They were traveling on State Route 18 when they failed to stop before entering State Route 25. Their vehicle was struck by another vehicle traveling southbound on Route 25.
Five people died as a result of the accident, Detectives Beingesser and McCue, the prisoner Henderson, and two passengers from the second vehicle.
Harold Beingesser was survived by his wife Ruth and their two year old daughter Jean.
Harold Beingesser’s name is inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall, Washington, D.C. panel 28, west wall, line 4.
Harry McCue’s name is inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall, Washington, D.C. panel 43, west wall, line 16.
