Hector A. Silva
Agency patch
Sergeant

Hector A. Silva

Chicago Police Department — Chicago, IL
Illness
End of Watch October 2, 2001
Age 36
Tour of Duty 11 yrs
The Vigil Panel 149 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Sergeant Hector Silva died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while participating in a special operations physical agilities test at the Homan Square facility located at 3340 West Fillmore Street.

He had completed an exercise that involved running up two flights of stairs while carrying a 55-pound sandbag. He began to show symptoms of dizziness and a headache. He was taken to a local hospital where died three days later during surgery to remove the blood clot in his brain.

Sergeant Silva was an 11-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-IL-A8EED2E8
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.
Sergeant Silva gave the Chicago Police Department 11 years.
Thank you for your service to the Chicago community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Silva.

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

Agency

Location Chicago, IL
Platform Identity cpd.cook.il.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 2, 2001
Tour of Duty 11 yrs
Age 36
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness
Cause Detail Duty related illness

Sergeant Hector A. Silva is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In IL, 66 of 1,318 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 5% of this state's fallen. That is 4.1 percentage points below the national rate of 9.1%.

At Chicago Police Department, 46 of 571 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 8.1% of this agency's fallen.

Chicago Police Department
46
of 571 officers
8.1% Illness
IL — Statewide
66
of 1,318 officers
5% Illness
Nationwide
2,974
of 32,508 officers
9.1% Illness

National Cause Distribution

How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Hector A. Silva'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 Hector A. Silva Compares

Age at End of Watch
36
This officer
Avg for Illness: 47.8 years
Years of Service
11
This officer
Avg for Illness: 18.9 years

When Illness Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Hector A. Silva is highlighted in Oct.

Jan
294
Feb
198
Mar
185
Apr
226
May
201
Jun
181
Jul
217
Aug
281
Sep
291
Oct
376
Nov
239
Dec
285

Incident Location