In uniform: York County line of duty deaths exceed 50

The situation

When Loganville Fire Chief Rodney Miller was killed by a drunken driver in directing traffic in 2013, the news media reached out to York County fire historian Greg Halpin for a full list of firefighters who had died in the line of duty.

No such list existed so the retired city firefighter went to work to correct that, referencing many knowledgeable people and fire departments. “Since then,” he wrote on his website YorkFire.net, “other names that were lost to time were discovered and added to the list. And, most unfortunately, several new names were added to the list.” He came up with about 40 names.

Halpin also operates the PoliceHeritageMuseum.com site that lists eight police officers and one police dog who died in the line of duty.

The number tops 50 police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders since 1904, when you combine the two lists plus a game preservation officer, David Grove; a York County resident in uniform who died in Cumberland County, Willis Cole; and U.S. Deputy Marshal of Conewago Township David Hill, who died in a shootout in Harrisburg.

The most recent addition to either of these halls of heroes? Andrew Duarte, who died in the line of duty at UPMC Memorial Hospital in February 2025, a selfless death that shook the York County community.

“Pray for peace. Pray for the victims of this senseless violence, especially the family of Officer Andrew Duarte,” York County District Attorney Tim Barker said in the aftermath of the shooting. “Pray for all law enforcement, health care workers, and emergency responders. Pray for your officials to lead with wisdom, strength, and righteousness. Pray for our York County community to heal and grow together out of this tragedy.”

“And finally, love and serve one another with the same sacrificial love shown by law enforcement on Saturday, epitomized by the ultimate sacrifice paid by a true hero, Officer Andrew Duarte.”

The witness

This is a sampling – just a sampling – of those in uniform who died in the line of duty in York County.

Police

Curtis D. Sowers, a North York motorcycle policeman, is the earliest line-of-duty death listed on the Police Heritage Museum’s site. In 1929, he was killed by Jacob Troup of Newberry Township, initially sought in the theft of some calves in 1928. Troup shot Sowers, moonlighting as a sheriff’s deputy, in the face with a shotgun blast. Troup was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Remarkably, he was released from prison in 1940.

Henry C. Schaad is perhaps the best known of the slain law enforcement officers on the police museum site. Patrolman Schaad was shot amid the York race riots of 1969 when riding in an armored vehicle. A shot penetrated the quarter-inch steel shell, striking Schaad, who died about two weeks later. His assailants were brought to trial and sentenced in 2001.

Fury, the police dog, took a bullet from a murder suspect in 1971 while in pursuit near Carlisle Avenue at Brougher Lane in West Manchester Township.

In 1989, two state police officers, searching for a missing man in the Lower Susquehanna River, were killed helicopter crash. Paul Almer was piloting the aircraft accompanied by investigator Wayne D. Bilheimer when it hit some low-slung electric lines. The helicopter went down, and the two troopers killed.

Fire

In 1904, Vigilant Fire Company firefighters John H. Saltzgiver, Horace F. Strine and Lewis M. Strubinger were killed when walls fell in a massive fire at York Carriage Works.

Another multiple fatality event in firefighting history came in 2018 when a partial building collapse, part of the former Weaver Organ and Piano factory, killed York city firefighters Ivan K. Flanscha and Zachary J. Anthony as they were fighting second-day hot spots.

At least two fire policemen – often overlooked emergency workers – were killed in the line of duty while directing traffic at scenes of emergency:

Lt. Douglas L. Rohrbaugh of the Windsor fire police was directing traffic in 1998 on Cape Horn Road when a pickup driver struck him. He died a short time later.

Newberry Township’s Brian Peek was fatally struck while directing traffic at Red Mill and Corn Hill roads in Newberry Township. First responders were on a call for a vehicle that struck a house in the area.

• Historian Greg Halpin posts regularly in this Facebook group: (2) York County Pa. Fire Service History | Facebook. His book on the history of the York City Fire Department, “We Strive to Save” is available on Amazon: We Strive to Save: An Anthology of York Fire Department History: Halpin, Gregory C: 9798987470008: Amazon.com: Books

The question

Fewer and fewer people are going into policing as a career. Why do you think that is? For example, close to 750 recruits tried out through the York County police consortium in 2007, but only a couple dozen came out in 2025. What is causing our young men and women to turn their heads away from this profession? And what can we do to encourage more people to want to be an officer – especially women and people of color?

The York County Safety Collab’s Jamie Noerpel interviews two York County police officers in: “Police mental health call went from knife to a saved life.”

Related links and sources: YorkFire.net; PoliceHeritageMuseum.com. Exhibit honors Officer Andrew Duarte & others who died in line of duty. Photos: Top and bottom, Jim McClure; middle, York Excavating.