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Hermosa Beach police officer Robert McCaulley. (Photo from Los Angeles Daily News, June 12, 1948.)
The pre-dawn events of June 11, 1948 that centered on the Hi-Spot Drive-In restaurant in Hermosa Beach ended up taking one policeman’s life and destroying another’s.
Hermosa Beach Radio Patrolman Robert McCaulley, 32, and Redondo Beach acting Sgt. Fred L. Taylor, 37, were good friends, having worked together on the Hermosa Beach police force before Taylor transferred to Redondo Beach. Both men were married. Taylor had four children, and McCaulley three.
McCaulley told investigators that he regularly swung by the Hi-Spot, located on Sepulveda Boulevard at Gould Lane, at closing time to give rides home to two car hops who worked there “to take the girls home and keep them out of trouble.”
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Mrs. Mildred Burroughs, left, and Mrs. Rosemary Shipley. (Photo from Los Angeles Daily News, June 12, 1948.)
The waitresses, Mrs. Mildred Burroughs, 27, of Manhattan Beach, and Mrs. Rosemary Shipley, 22, of Lawndale, had been working at the cafe when a robbery took place near it seven months earlier, causing McCaulley’s concern.
On this night, McCaulley picked up the two women, who joined Hermosa Beach Officer William Hart and his wife in the car. McCaulley then drove the Harts home, but returned with the two waitresses to Pier Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard, where the women demanded that he take them home.
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Redondo Beach Police Acting Sgt. Fred L. Taylor. (Photo from Los Angeles Daily News, June 12, 1948.)
McCaulley refused, so they had him radio for a Redondo Beach police car. McCaulley called Fred Taylor, who drove over in his patrol car and then got into McCaulley’s car.
What followed next was a wild late-night ride during which the quartet took swigs of whiskey while McCaulley drove erratically. At one point, after being relieved of the wheel by the terrified Mrs. Shipley, he stuck his gun out the side window and fired into some brush.
Mrs. Burroughs in the back seat asked for the gun so she could fire out the window, and so did Mrs. Shipley in the front seat.
Mrs. Shipley and McCaulley then quarreled, presumably about his unwelcome advances toward her. Mrs. Burroughs insisted they drive back to the Hi-Spot, which they did. When they stopped and McCaulley reached into the back seat for Mrs. Burroughs, Taylor tried to stop him and McCaulley shot him during the ensuing scuffle.
McCaulley was arraigned and charged with murder. Citing Taylor’s two gunshot wounds, the coroner ruled that McCaulley should be held to answer for the crime, and a preliminary hearing began on June 18, 1948.
After the hearing concluded later that afternoon, Judge Vernon Hunt reduced the charge against McCaulley from murder to manslaughter, determining that the shooting had not been premeditated. Trial was set for September, and it was a doozy.
On Sept. 14, 1948, the waitresses Mrs. Burroughs and Mrs. Shipley testified for the prosecution. Burroughs again described the early-morning events, testifying that her friend Shipley finally had to take the wheel from McCaulley due to his wild driving during their “ride of terror.”
Mrs. Shipley then testified about the shooting itself, saying Taylor was attempting to calm the out-of-control McCaulley. They were struggling when McCaulley pulled out his service revolver and fired. “They were scuffling. He just pulled out a gun and shot,” Shipley told the court. Taylor never pulled out a gun, she said.
“My God, I’ve been shot. Call the station, Bob shot me,” Taylor reportedly cried.
After his incoherent call to police headquarters, McCaulley was arrested and brought to the Hermosa station by Redondo Beach officers.
Taylor died in the hospital at 7:25 a.m. that morning, following unsuccessful emergency surgery.
During the next day’s testimony, defense attorneys brought up the prescription painkillers that McCaulley had been taking for a painful shoulder injury. Three doctors testified that they had treated McCaulley in the past, and each had prescribed a codeine-based medication for him.
A fourth doctor, expert witness S.G. Sonnyland, then claimed that McCaulley was under the influence of a “dangerous dose” of painkillers which may have caused his “uncontrollable rage” and the subsequent blackout which McCaulley claimed occurred on the night of the shooting, causing him to lose all memory of the night’s events.
On the final day of the three-day trial, McCaulley wept during the defense’ closing arguments, which claimed that he was under the influence of the drugs at the time of the crime.
The next day, Judge William R. McKay issued his verdict, finding McCaulley guilt of manslaughter in the fatal shooting.
On Oct. 13, 1948, McKay sentenced McCaulley to 1-10 years in prison. Because a gun was used in the slaying, McCaulley was required to serve a minimum of five years in San Quentin.
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Daily Breeze front page, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1948.
Sources:
Daily Breeze files.
Los Angeles Daily News files.
Los Angeles Times files.
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