Robert James Quirk

California Highway Patrol — Sacramento, CA

Cardiac

End of Watch April 11, 1971

Age 49

Tour of Duty 16 yrs

The Vigil Panel 108 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 232

Incident

Officer Robert Quirk suffered a fatal heart attack several hours after being involved in a foot pursuit.

The foot pursuit started at approximately 1:50 pm after he encountered three pedestrians on the shoulder of I-5, south of Route 36, in Red Bluff, California. He advised dispatchers that the three were running from him. When a backup officer arrived he located Officer Quirk walking all three subjects back towards his patrol car.

After Officer Quirk's shift ended he returned home and started experiencing chest pains. He suffered a fatal heart attack approximately 11 hours later.

Officer Quirk had served with the California Highway Patrol for 16 years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and five children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-CA-69087609
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 never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Officer Quirk gave the California Highway Patrol 16 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of California. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Quirk.

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

Agency

Department California Highway Patrol

Location Sacramento, CA

Platform Identity chp.ca.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 11, 1971

Tour of Duty 16 yrs

Age 49

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Cause Detail Heart attack

Officer Robert James Quirk 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 CA, 52 of 1,837 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 2.8% of this state's fallen. That is 1.2 percentage points below the national rate of 4%.

At California Highway Patrol, 5 of 233 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 2.1% of this agency's fallen.

California Highway Patrol

of 233 officers

2.1% Cardiac

CA — Statewide

of 1,837 officers

2.8% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac