Bryce Patten

Bryce Patten (died August 19, 1960) was a who was murdered in 1960.
Biography
Patten was a full-time high school teacher at Ventura High School, in Ventura, California. In his spare time, he served as a volunteer reserve deputy sheriff and Cub Scout master. He had three children.
Death
In early August of 1960, three men, all parolees, Roger Parker, Donald David, and David Combes, met to plan a robbery. After a series of robberies across the state, during which Combes mentioned that he “would not go back to the joint for any reason,” the men rented a hotel room in Ventura. They then traveled to Santa Barbara on August 19th, and robbed a liquor store, taking between $150 and $200. Santa Barbara authorities notified the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, who then ordered deputies, among them Deputy Patten, to set up roadblocks.
The three men met Deputy Patten, who was manning a roadblock on Casitas Pass Road, near Lake Casitas. Patten asked the men for identification and all but David presented it to him. Patten asked the men to exit the car, and Combes, who was driving, did so holding his gun. Combes shot Patten two to three times. After Patten fell, he fired three more times into Patten’s chest as Patten tried to raise up and grab his own weapon. Combes yelled at the other two men to get in the car and they fled.
Patten managed to climb up from the ground by using the fender of his car before collapsing by the driver’s door as he tried to radio for help. The deputies who found Patten also found an identification card left dropped by Parker in his haste. In their Ventura hotel, the men packed their things, and in explaining himself, Combes said that he would do the same thing again if he needed to. The men fled as far as Texas before returning to Bakersfield, California. In Bakersfield, the men were spotted by Police Officer Claude Yeargan, who noticed that Parker was limping, as indicated by his description in a bulletin.
David Allan Combes was convicted of murdering Patten and given the death penalty. He was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin on January 18, 1961.

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