Badge: P347
Age: 40
Served: 4 years 2 months
July 7, 1996 to September 1, 2000
OFFICER
Kevin was born September 29, 1959 in Cincinnati to Abraham Curtis and Barbara Jean (Jones) Crayon. He attended Forest Park High School and graduated in 1977.
Almost immediately after graduation, July 1977, Kevin joined the United States Army. His basic training was in Arizona and then he shipped to Ansbach, Germany for almost two years. Private First-Class Crayon was honorably discharged on July 10, 1980.
From 1981 to 1983 he attended Cochise College in Arizona.
Beginning in September 1989, he worked as a civilian warehouse man at the United States Army base, Camp Darby, in Georgia, then as an accounting technician. In August of 1993, he went to Fort Hood in Texas and worked as a test data collector for the M1A2 tank. Also during 1993, he went back to school for a semester at the University of Texas.
From 1994 to 1996 he worked as a service technician at Monarch Marketing in Idaho.
Kevin’s father died in Lansing, Michigan in May 1996. Around that time, Kevin moved back to Cincinnati.
On July 7, 1996, Kevin joined the Cincinnati Police Division as a Police Recruit. He was promoted to Police Officer on December 1, 1996, issued Badge 347, and assigned to District 2 (3295 Erie Avenue). By then end of 1999, he was already working with little supervision and the expectation of at least one of his sergeants was that he would soon be a relief leader. On February 6, 2000, Officer Crayon rotated to District 5 (1012 Ludlow Avenue). By September 2000, Officer Crayon, in one capacity or another, had already served our country and community, off and on, for eleven years. He also had three letters of appreciation and/or commendation, including one from the Fairfax Police Chief.
INCIDENT
On September 1, 2000, about 12:43 a.m., Police Officer Kevin Crayon found 12-year-old Courtney Mathis sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1996 Ford Taurus in the United Dairy Farmers parking lot at 5564 Colerain Avenue. As Officer Crayon approached Mathis to inquire as to his age, Mr. Anthony Bell, with his family, parked his vehicle to the right of and behind the Taurus. Officer Crayon mentioned to Mr. Bell that Mathis looked too young to drive and Mathis revved the engine and put the Taurus in reverse.
At this time, the Bell family had exited their car and inadvertently walked toward the path of the Taurus. Officer Crayon yelled, “Hold up! Hold up! There are kids behind the car!” Officer Crayon ran to and reached into the car to turn the key. Mathis accelerated through the lot, dragging Officer Crayon along.
Mathis drove the car onto Colerain Avenue, driving south at a high rate of speed and zigzagging back and forth. Officer Crayon freed his right hand, drew his sidearm, and fired one shot striking Mathis in the left chest. Whatever was holding Officer Crayon released. He dropped to the roadway, skidded across the pavement, and his head struck the exhaust pipe of a stationary 1995 Cadillac at Colerain Avenue and North Bend Road. The impact killed him instantly.
Mathis continued on Colerain, striking a Chevrolet Cavalier, and then on to his residence at 5426 Bahama Terrace. Once inside, he announced to his mother that he was shot by the Police. She called 9-1-1 and the Cincinnati Fire Division transported him to Children’s Hospital where he died a few hours later.
FUNERAL
Officer Crayon was survived by his mother, Barbara Crayon Allbright; children, Kevin Curtis II, Christopher Keith, and Brittany Denise; brother, Shawn Anthony Crayon; and stepsiblings, Vincent Toran, Keith Andre Albright, and Vicki Denise Travis.
Reverend Jim Vickers, Jr. officiated over funeral services at the Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church in Woodlawn. From there hundreds of regional police officers escorted Officer Crayon to his final resting place in Oak Hill Cemetery, Glendale, Ohio. His pallbearers included Police Officers Kevin Brown, Brian Norris, Joe Grady, Joehonny Reese, William Keuper, and Robert Posey.
EPILOGUE
The Police Division retired Badge No. 347, the 20th badge number to be retired for a line of duty death.
Officer Crayon’s only full sibling, Shawn, passed away in 2006. His mother died in 2015.
If you know of any information, artifacts, archives, or images regarding this officer or incident, Please contact the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum at Memorial@Police-Museum.org.
© This narrative was revised on April 17, 2020 by Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Stephen R. Kramer (Retired), Greater Cincinnati Police Museum Historian. All rights are reserved to him and the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum.