Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief Herbert Lesch was killed in a motorcycle accident when he collided with a state police car while escorting a milk truck during a strike.
Chief Lesch had served with the Wheeling Police Department for four years.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IL-87990E25- 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.
Chief of Police Lesch gave the Wheeling Police Department 4 years.
Thank you for your service to the Wheeling community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Lesch.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police Herbert Lesch 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 IL, 354 of 1,318 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 26.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.1 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
At Wheeling Police Department, 1 of 2 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 50% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Herbert Lesch's cause is highlighted.
How Herbert Lesch Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Herbert Lesch is highlighted in Oct.
Others Who Wore This Badge
1 officer from Wheeling Police Department are honored on badge.nw.
