Thomas Mitchell Bray, Sr.

Philadelphia Police Department — Philadelphia, PA

Accident

End of Watch November 13, 2001

Age 52

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

The Vigil Panel 149 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 377

Incident

Officer Thomas Bray, a member of the police department's marine unit, drowned while attempting to recover a sunken channel marker in the Delaware River.

He and two other marine unit officers were working with the U.S. Coast Guard in an attempt to recover the buoy. Several minutes into the dive, Officer Bray radioed that he was tangled and was instructed to cut the line. However, he did not surface. Other officers were able to bring him to the surface and transport him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Officer Bray had served with the Philadelphia Police Department for 23 years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and three grown children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-PA-ABA82A6D
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

23 years. You could have gone home.
Police Officer Bray gave the Philadelphia Police Department 23 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Philadelphia community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Bray.

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

Agency

Department Philadelphia Police Department

Location Philadelphia, PA

Platform Identity ppd.philadelphia.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 13, 2001

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

Age 52

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Police Officer Thomas Mitchell Bray, Sr. 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 PA, 417 of 1,261 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.1% of this state's fallen. That is 2.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Philadelphia Police Department, 110 of 378 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 29.1% of this agency's fallen.

Philadelphia Police Department

110

of 378 officers

29.1% Accident

PA — Statewide

417

of 1,261 officers

33.1% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident