Last Known Activity:
On June 5, 1985, while assigned to the Traffic Safety Division, Officer Corbin was killed by a motorist who intentionally smashed into his tri-car after receiving a $4.00 parking ticket moments earlier.
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Comments/Citation:
Officer Johnnie Corbin joined the Police Department in September, 1967. At 11:25 a.m. on June 5, 1985 Officer Corbin was sitting on his tri-car writing a parking tag on another vehicle at 1706 Elliot. Forty-three year-old Willie Taylor, enraged at a $4.00 parking ticket he received moments before, intentionally raced his car more than 60 miles per hour and rammed into the rear of Corbin's tri-car. The impact of the crash threw Officer Corbin in the air and onto the hood of the car that struck him. Taylor continued in his vehicle, carrying Officer Corbin fifty feet before the critically injured Officer rolled off the hod and on to the street.
After crashing into Corbin, Taylor stopped his vehicle, left his car and walked over to the unconscious officer. Taylor then began tearing Corbin's uniform and viciously kicking him before returning to his car. Instead of trying to flee, Taylor removed a pair of sunglasses from his vehicle and returned to Corbin. Taylor then kicked Corbin several more times. At this point a citizen yelled at Taylor to stop and picked up the police revolver, inoperable due to the impact of the crash, and pointed it at Taylor. The citizen held Taylor until other officers arrived.
Officer Corbin was rushed to Saint Louis University Hospital where he died as a result of extensive internal and external injuries from the accident. Taylor admitted he intentionally rammed Officer Corbin. Convicted of First Degree Murder in the death of Officer Corbin, Willie Taylor was sentenced to life in prison.
Before he joined the Police Department, Corbin served seven years in the United States Marine Corps where he attained the rank of Sergeant. A distinuished member of the Department, in 1974, while assigned to District Two, he and other officers killed one holdup man and wounded two others during a drug store robbery. For his actions he received the Department's second highest award, the Meritorious Service Citation.
Officer Corbin was also a member of the Department's Hostage Response Team. At the time of his death, he was working toward a degree in accounting. Fellow officers who worked with him described Officer Corbin as a low key, spit and polish former Marine Sergeant. In 1983, he battled back from heart surgery to resume his job as a Police Officer. He was forty-two years old at the time of his death. He left a mother and a daughter.
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