34 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: OCTOBER 2017 by Jaclyn Barrientes W e too-often hear about law enforce- ment officers being shot and killed in the line of duty. And we mourn the loss of officers who died from traffic-related inci- dents, whether they were struck by a vehicle or in an automobile or motorcycle crash. But line-of-duty deaths that fall under a category known as “other” are often times overlooked. These are the officers who died from various causes, such as job-related illnesses, drownings and beatings. As of August 23, 2017, 19 officers have died due to causes unrelated to firearms and traffic inci- dents. That is a 36 percent increase from 14 lost for those same reasons as of that date in 2016. Earlier this year, FBI Special Agent Rickey O’Donald passed away after suffering a heart at- tack. He collapsed after an FBI-mandated annual fitness assessment at the Miami, Florida, Field Of- fice. He was the first federal officer to die in 2017. Five officers have died this year from heart at- tacks. Job-related illnesses remain a focus for law enforcement and one of the reasons the Memorial Fund partnered with the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assis- tance program in 2014, to bring forward the Destina- tion Zero program. This program not only focuses on im- proving general officer safety, it also underscores the need for im- portant improve- ments in officer wellness. In some cases, law enforcement officers are beat- en to death, such as the case with North Caro- lina Department of Public Safety Sergeant Meggan Lee Callahan. Sgt. Callahan was killed by an inmate serving a life sentence at the Bertie Correctional Institution in eastern North Carolina. The inmate started a fire, which Sgt. Callahan and two other officers respond- ed to with fire extinguish- ers. The inmate attacked her, gaining control of the extinguisher and striking her in the head. She later died of her injuries. Sgt. Callahan is one of two of- ficers beaten to death this year. In February, Police Of- ficer Eric Mumaw, of the Metro Nashville (TN) Police Department, and other officers responded to reports of a suicidal woman near a trail. As they attempted to speak to the woman, her car slid into the nearby river. When the officers tried to pull her out, they were swept into the cold water. The other responding officers were unable to save Officer Mumaw, and his body was later recov- ered from the river. He is the only officer to have drowned this year so far. There are many cases where an officer’s death is non-felonious, such as suffering a heart attack. Anderson County (SC) Sheriff’s Office Deputy Devin Hodges died this summer while participat- ing in a training exercise over open water. Deputy Sheriff Hodges was knocked out of the boat and then struck by the propeller. He died of his injuries at a local hospital. More recently, two Virginia State Police officers were killed in a helicop- ter crash. Lieutenant Pi- lot H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates died when their heli- copter crashed outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, while monitoring civil unrest in the city. These are just a few of the 19 officers who had died of “other causes” this year. While their deaths may not receive as much news coverage, with the exception of the Virginia State Police officers, their names will be just as im- portant when they appear on walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, next spring. Jay Cullen Virginia State Police Berke M. M. Bates Virginia State Police Meggan Lee Callahan North Carolina Dept. of Public Safety Devin Hodges Anderson County (SC) Sheriff’s Office Rickey O’Donald Federal Burerau of Investigation As of August this year, 19 officers have died due to causes unrelated to firearms and traffic incidents – a 36 percent increase from 2016. The Memorial walls cur- rently bear the names of 21,183 officers who have sacrificed their lives for the protection of our com- munities. These 19 officers will be remembered with the same honor and re- spect as those who have gone before them. Jaclyn Barrientes is the Communications and Digi- tal Media Manager at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Visit www.LawMemorial.org for more information about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. I N T H E L I N E O F D U T Y These line of duty deaths have skyrocketed