Chesapeake police officer dies during dive-team training; VACP requests shrouding of badges
December 20, 2011 | Virginia News
The VACP requests that Virginia law enforcement shroud their badges through Wednesday, December 28 in honor of Chesapeake Police Officer Timothy Schock.
Information on memorial services is now available.
View the Online Obituary & Sign the Guestbook
Wake/Viewing
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 6:00 p.m.
HD Oliver Funeral Home
1416 Cedar Rd., Chesapeake, VA (Directions)
Funeral
Wednesday December 28, 2011 - 11:00 a.m.
Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, “The Mount” - Cathedral
215 Las Gaviotas Boulevard, Chesapeake, VA (Directions)
Graveside
Immediately following Funeral Service
Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery
5310 Milners Road, Suffolk, VA 23434 (Directions)
Reception
Following Graveside Service
Oak Grove United Methodist Church
472 North Battlefield Boulevard, Chesapeake, VA 23320
Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin Wright has asked Virginia State Police to investigate the death of a police officer who died Tuesday during a dive training exercise.
"Their expertise in the area of underwater search and rescue will, I am confident, prove valuable to this effort and we greatly appreciate their willingness to assist," Wright wrote in a news release this morning.
A veteran member of the Police Department's dive team, Officer Timothy Schock, 41, died after struggling to breathe while submerged during a training exercise at Oak Grove Lake Park. The exercise was part of search-and-rescue training, according to the Police Department.
When Schock surfaced, he told his team partner, who was with him during the training, that he couldn't breathe, Wright wrote. Schock's partner immediately tried to give him his own respirator, "but under the stress and duress of the situation, Officer Schock pushed away the apparatus and went back under water," according to Wright.
Divers on shore helped get Schock back to the surface and onto land, where they performed CPR, according to Wright. Emergency crews from the Fire Department continued lifesaving efforts.
The officer was taken to Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Wright did not elaborate in today's statement about Schock's death, except to say that information about a memorial for Schock will be released as they are available.
Department spokesperson Kelly O'Sullivan said it is common for police to ask outside agencies to review cases, like accidents and deaths. State Police will work with a member of the Chesapeake Police Department to investigate the dive team's equipment and training techniques, she said.
"There is absolutely nothing suspicious about this," she said. "We just want to see specifically what went wrong."
Schock worked for the department for 16 years, including about eight on the dive team, police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan said. The officer had a teenage son and had served in the U.S. Marine Corps, she said.
Schock is the third Chesapeake police officer to die in the line of duty in the past six years. In October 2005, Officer Michael Saffran, 45, was fatally shot while responding to a bank robbery. In January 2008, Detective Jarrod Shivers, 34, was killed during an attempt to serve a search warrant.
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