 Aroused
by the death of a Minneapolis policeman by an automobile, on May 3,
1936, Mayor Thomas E. Latimer called a conference of city officials to
seek mandatory workhouse sentences for all convicted drunken drivers. Police
continued to investigate the story of Otto J. Nelson, 38 years old,
2102 Second Avenue No., whose automobile killed Patrolman Benjamin J.
LEHMANN, 60 years old, 2651 Queen Avenue North. Held in
jail without charge, Nelson said his car was going only 25 or 30 miles
an hour when Officer LEHMANN “ran in front of the car” at Glenwood and
Irving Avenues North. Witnesses told police Nelson was
traveling at least 50 miles an hour, and that he did not get out of his
car after the accident. They said he halted his machine, waited for a
time and then went home without reporting the accident to police.
Patrolmen later picked him up at his home. Nelson admitted having “a few beers,” police said. As
a phase of Mayor Latimer’s conference, he began investigation of a
report by the dead patrolman’s wife and son that they had been denied
permission to see Officer LEHMANN when he had been brought to General
Hospital because the injuries “were not serious.” He died while they waited for a chance to see him. Funeral
services for Officer LEHMANN were conducted on May 6th in St. Anne’s
church, Twenty-sixth and Russell Avenues North. Surviving were his
wife, a son and a daughter. Interment at St. Mary’s cemetery. Officer LEHMANN had been on the police department for 27 years. On
the day Officer LEHMANN was laid to rest, the driver that struck and
killed him plead guilty and was sentenced to serve 90 days in the
Hennepin County workhouse on reckless driving charges. On May 13th Otto Nelson was indicted for second degree manslaughter by the Hennepin County Grand Jury. | 
