Patrolman Henry R. Johnson, “Mike” to his friends and family, was appointed to the CPD in the 1920s and served as a motorcycle officer in the Edgewood area. On the night of August 12, 1930, he was shot while questioning a suspicious man who’d appeared from between two vacant houses on Arnold Ave. He was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Providence where he died two days later at the age of 32. His assailant was captured and died in prison in 1952. Patrolman Johnson had survived another shooting in 1928 when he surprised two men robbing a private home.
He was survived by his wife and young son, and is buried in the Pocasset Cemetery in Cranston.
Rest in peace.