So you want to be a cop, serve the public and put bad guys where they belong?
The Ontario Rotary Police Museum is a rather inspiring place to help you understand that it is both a rewarding job and one that can put you in harm’s way.
Former Ontario Officer Robert Kallas knows all about that. There’s a clipping at the museum from the Ontario Daily Report from Dec. 29, 1958, that tells about a tense situation involving his father, Motor Officer George Kallas, and a “berserk man.”
In one of those all-too-often confrontations, the mentally disturbed man wrestled away a revolver from another officer and started firing. One of the rounds hit George Kallas squarely in the middle.
“He was saved because it hit his belt buckle and bounced off,” said Robert Kallas. The shooting was one of three wounds the elder Kallas received while with the department. He survived all three.
The museum is a real under-the-radar community treasure that chronicles the history of the Police Department over more than a century. It’s adjacent to the Ontario police offices at 2500 S. Archibald Ave.
The museum features many police vehicles, pieces of equipment and arrest log books, but its real flavor comes from the tales of the people who have worn its uniforms.
Consider, for instance, the case of George and Lela Williams, a rather unique husband and wife team who served as constables in Ontario in the early 1950s. George Williams had come to Ontario from Claremont while Lela Williams was also a law enforcement officer and often served with him as deputy constable.
The pair were assigned to drive three criminals from Ontario to San Quentin Prison in 1951.
While George Williams was driving the car in foggy conditions near Tracy in San Joaquin County, prisoner Johnny Armstrong got out of his handcuffs in the back seat and grabbed him around the neck. Meanwhile, the other two, Sherman Cowen and Stanley Lundgren, also got loose, opened the door and darted outside, disappearing into the fog.
While her husband was pretty much at the mercy of the prisoner behind him, Lela Williams calmly pulled out her .33 automatic pistol and quickly convinced Armstrong to free her husband.
“I had been watching them closely all during the trip, but somehow, they managed to open their leg irons and handcuffs as well as the door catch,” she told the Daily Report of Jan. 18, 1951. “It apparently was planned pretty well in advance.”
Meanwhile, George Williams raced off after the other two escapees. “(He) could barely see the men who had a 300-yard lead but he fired anyway,”