The Cleveland Police Museum is honored to tell the stories of our Fallen Officers on the anniversary of their End of Watch.
Harry McCue was appointed to the Cleveland Police Department on June 16, 1928, assigned to the Tenth Precinct located at West 53rd Street and Lorain Avenue. McCue was later appointed to the rank of detective on July 16, 1929.
Detectives Harry McCue and Harold Beingesser traveled to Wood County to apprehend Clarence Henderson, a former water department employee wanted for embezzling $1500 from the city. The two detectives tracked Henderson to a sugar beet farm near Toledo.
The men arrived at the farm and found Henderson sleeping in a shack. When they woke him, he and his friends fought with the officers, but were eventually taken into custody. On the way back to Cleveland, Beingesser drove while McCue rode in the back with Henderson. They were traveling on State Route 18 when they failed to stop before entering State Route 25. Their vehicle was struck by another vehicle traveling southbound on Route 25.
Five people died as a result of the accident, Detectives McCue and Beingesser, the prisoner Henderson, and two passengers from the second vehicle.
Harry McCue was survived by his wife Florence and their three children, Alice, Daniel and James. Services were held at St. Patrick’s Church on Rocky River Dr. and he was laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.