Dennis Witherington
Agency patch
Lieutenant

Dennis Witherington

Cardiac
End of Watch August 24, 1969
Age 55
Tour of Duty 27 yrs
The Vigil Panel 105 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Lieutenant Dennis Witherington suffered a fatal heart attack at the scene of a fire. Lieutenant Witherington had served with the agency for 27 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and three children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-GA-3BC17269
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

27 years. You could have gone home.
Lieutenant Witherington gave the Chatham County Police Department 27 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Savannah community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Lieutenant Witherington.

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

Agency

Location Savannah, GA
Platform Identity ccpd.chatham.ga.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch August 24, 1969
Tour of Duty 27 yrs
Age 55
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Lieutenant Dennis Witherington 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 GA, 23 of 903 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 2.5% of this state's fallen. That is 1.5 percentage points below the national rate of 4%.

At Chatham County Police Department, 1 of 11 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.1% of this agency's fallen.

Chatham County Police Department
1
of 11 officers
9.1% Cardiac
GA — Statewide
23
of 903 officers
2.5% Cardiac
Nationwide
1,306
of 32,508 officers
4% Cardiac

National Cause Distribution

How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Dennis Witherington'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 Dennis Witherington Compares

Age at End of Watch
55
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 48.6 years
Years of Service
27
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 15.6 years

When Cardiac Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Dennis Witherington is highlighted in Aug.

Jan
124
Feb
105
Mar
99
Apr
116
May
115
Jun
95
Jul
94
Aug
104
Sep
109
Oct
121
Nov
113
Dec
111