State Highway Officer Killed
William Kozlak, a state highway patrolman and brother of State Representative Joseph Kozlak, was killed Wednesday when the motorcycle he was riding crashed into a telephone pole on the Jefferson Highway, four miles north of Osseo.
It was the first fatality of a state highway patrolman since the establishment of the patrol in 1930.
A passing motorist found Kozlak’s body in a ditch beside the road, with his crushed motorcycle nearby. He phoned Anoka County authorities, who removed the body.
At the time of the accident, Kozlak was en route to Brainerd, where he was delivering a new motorcycle to patrol headquarters and where he was stationed.
Kozlak was 32. He was married and is survived by his wife and a young daughter. He formerly lived in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Tribune