Michael Allen Towner

Worcester Police Department — Worcester, MA

Cardiac

End of Watch April 7, 2009

Age 58

Tour of Duty 33 yrs

The Vigil Panel 157 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 8

Incident

Sergeant Michael Towner succumbed to injuries sustained six weeks earlier while struggling with a violent subject at a basketball game.

He and another officer were working security at the game. After removing a vocally abusive subject the officers attempted to arrest him. During the ensuing struggle, Sergeant Towner and the suspect both slipped on a patch of ice. The suspect then fled but was caught a short distance away and arrested.

Sergeant Towner began experiencing shortness of breath. He was transported to a local hospital where he underwent emergency heart surgery. He remained in the hospital until passing away on April 7th, 2009.

Sergeant Towner had served with the Worcester Police Department for 33 years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MA-893EF1AF
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

33 years. You could have gone home.
Sergeant Towner gave the Worcester Police Department 33 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Worcester community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Towner.

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

Agency

Department Worcester Police Department

Location Worcester, MA

Platform Identity worcpd.worcester.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 7, 2009

Tour of Duty 33 yrs

Age 58

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Cause Detail Heart attack

Weapon Person

Sergeant Michael Allen Towner 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 MA, 44 of 469 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.4% of this state's fallen. That is 5.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Worcester Police Department, 3 of 9 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 33.3% of this agency's fallen.

Worcester Police Department

of 9 officers

33.3% Cardiac

MA — Statewide

of 469 officers

9.4% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac