Sergeant Walter J. Burgess

Walter J. Burgess

Sergeant Walter Burgess was killed in an automobile crash on Cumberland Hill Road in Woonsocket while transporting an ill prisoner to Woonsocket Hospital.

He and another trooper had arrested men and were transporting them to the state police barracks for questioning when one of the men passed out. They turned around and started responding to the hospital when a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction crossed the center line near Mendon Road and struck the patrol car head-on during a period of dense fog.

Sergeant Burgess was posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He had served with the Rhode Island State Police for just over 2 years.