Roll of Honor
Incident
Sergeant John O'Connor suffered a fatal heart attack after struggling with a drunk driving subject at the city police station.
He had just arrested the man for drunk driving after the subject crashed his car. The man began to struggle as Sergeant O'Connor walked him to the booking room. Sergeant O'Connor was able to subdue the man before leaving him with another officer in order to go upstairs to answer the phone. When the second officer continued to hear the phone ring, he went upstairs to investigate and found Sergeant O'Connor on the floor, unresponsive. Sergeant O'Connor was transported to Lynn Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Sergeant O'Connor was a United States Navy World War II veteran and had served with the Nahant Police Department for 28 years.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife, three brothers, and two sisters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MA-4376C565- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Sergeant O'Connor gave the Nahant Police Department 28 years.
Thank you for your service to the Nahant community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
John J. O'Connor served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.
Sergeant John J. O'Connor is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In MA, 44 of 469 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.4% of this state's fallen. That is 5.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At Nahant Police Department, 1 of 2 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 50% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John J. O'Connor's cause is highlighted.
How John J. O'Connor Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. John J. O'Connor is highlighted in Jul.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
1 officer from Nahant Police Department are honored on badge.nw.
