George Headen
Agency patch
Deputy Sheriff

George Headen

Accident
End of Watch October 19, 1897
Tour of Duty 1 yrs 4 mo
The Vigil Panel 14 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Deputy Sheriff Headen was killed after being struck by a pole that fell off a cliff. Deputy Headen was supervising a gang of prisoners. The inmates were working to remove massive rocks. While they were working one of the guide ropes snapped. A pole attached to the rope fell to the ground and struck Deputy Headen in the abdomen, killing him. Deputy Haden had been with the agency for 17 months.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-CA-607B0612
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

129 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Deputy Sheriff Headen gave the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the San Jose community. Gone but never to be forgotten.

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

Agency

Location San Jose, CA
Platform Identity sccso.santaclara.ca.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 19, 1897
Tour of Duty 1 yrs 4 mo
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Deputy Sheriff George Headen 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 CA, 719 of 1,837 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.1% of this state's fallen. That is 8.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, 1 of 7 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 14.3% of this agency's fallen.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
1
of 7 officers
14.3% Accident
CA — Statewide
719
of 1,837 officers
39.1% Accident
Nationwide
10,088
of 32,508 officers
31% Accident

National Cause Distribution

How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. George Headen's cause is highlighted.

Felonious
17,623 (54.2%)
Accident
10,088 (31%)
Illness
2,974 (9.1%)
Cardiac
1,306 (4%)
Undetermined
260 (0.8%)
Suicide
256 (0.8%)
vehicular
1 (0%)

How George Headen Compares

Years of Service
1.4
This officer
Avg for Accident: 9.1 years

When Accident Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. George Headen is highlighted in Oct.

Jan
820
Feb
730
Mar
748
Apr
707
May
847
Jun
795
Jul
897
Aug
937
Sep
913
Oct
925
Nov
872
Dec
897