Legless CHP Officer Given Station Command
Bob Caldwell, the California Highway Patrol’s only legless officer, was promoted to captain Monday and took over the Verdugo Hills CHP station, which oversees the eastern third of the San Fernando Valley and much of the San Gabriel Valley.
Caldwell, 52, of Santa Clarita, lost both legs in a 1973 motorcycle accident while working out of the CHP’s Culver City station.
Reassigned to desk work, he almost lost his job 10 years later when the CHP mandated that all officers pass certain physical tests, including a 68-inch broad jump. He was retained only after state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita)--a former Los Angeles police chief--succeeded in passing a law in 1983 allowing CHP officers to seek waivers from performing certain physical tests. Caldwell said he is the only officer with such a waiver.
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