Michael Leonard

Pittsfield Police Department — Pittsfield, MA

Accident

End of Watch June 1, 1898

Age 55

Tour of Duty 17 yrs

The Vigil Panel 14 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 3

Incident

Captain Leonard was in charge of detail at the local train depot. A crowd of more than five thousand citizens had gathered to welcome home soldiers from the Spanish-American War. When the train did not slow down, the officers attempted to clear the tracks. Captain Leonard was struck and killed by the train as he helped a mother and child to safety. The train was a freight train, not the soldiers’ train.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MA-557011D6
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

128 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Captain Leonard gave the Pittsfield Police Department 17 years.
Thank you for your service to the Pittsfield community. Gone but never to be forgotten.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Pittsfield Police Department

Location Pittsfield, MA

Platform Identity ppd.berkshire.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch June 1, 1898

Tour of Duty 17 yrs

Age 55

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Captain Michael Leonard is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In MA, 158 of 469 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.7% of this state's fallen. That is 2.7 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Pittsfield Police Department, 2 of 4 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 50% of this agency's fallen.

Pittsfield Police Department

of 4 officers

50% Accident

MA — Statewide

158

of 469 officers

33.7% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident