Roll of Honor
Theodore G. Canham
Incident
Patrol Special Police Officer Theodore Canham was electrocuted when he came in contact with a live wire at the intersection of Lombard Street and Fillmore Street.
He was en route to the North End Police Station when he noticed the live wire. He summoned another patrolman to the scene and the two stood guard to warn pedestrians. As a group of children approached Officer Canham believed that the jumping wire may come too close to them.
Believing his leather gloves were non-conductive, Officer Canham attempted to grab the wire to move it out of reach of the children. However, he received a shock and collapsed. He was transported to Central Emergency Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His obituary lists his parents and four siblings. Officer is buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California. {Note: burial plot is known but not marked see Find a grave memorial https://old.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Canham&GSfn=t&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1909&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=144942925&df=all&
T. Fazzini Researcher January 7th, 2018
In Our Keeping
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BO-US-CA-C5E0449B- 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.
Patrol Special Police Officer Canham served with the San Francisco Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the San Francisco community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrol Special Police Officer Canham.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Patrol Special Police Officer Theodore G. Canham 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 San Francisco Police Department, 35 of 106 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Theodore G. Canham's cause is highlighted.
How Theodore G. Canham Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Theodore G. Canham is highlighted in Dec.
Others Who Wore This Badge
105 officers from San Francisco Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
