Thomas J. O'Neill

Baltimore Police Dept. — Baltimore, MD

Illness

End of Watch October 16, 1949

Age 50

Tour of Duty 21 yrs

The Vigil Panel 86 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 150

Incident

Police Officer Thomas O'Neill suffered a fatal hemorrhage after conducting a motorcycle escort for a medical emergency at 10:00 pm. During the escort, Officer O'Neill's motorcycle stalled at an intersection and he tried for several minutes to get it restarted using the kick-starter. He was able to get it started and joined the ambulance and other motorcycle officers at Sydenham Hospital. Several minutes later Officer O'Neill collapsed.

A nearby doctor immediately attended to the officer and determined his condition was so bad that he needed to be transported to Mercy Hospital. Doctors at Mercy Hospital attended to Officer O'Neill for several hours, but he died as a result of the hemorrhage at approximately 6:45 am the following morning.

A medical investigation determined that the hemorrhage was a result of the stress of the transport, combined with attempting to restart his motorcycle and a previous on-duty motorcycle accident several weeks prior.

Officer O'Neill had served with the Baltimore Police Department for 21 years and was assigned to the Traffic Division. He was survived by his wife, three children, sister, and four brothers. His identical twin brother also served with the agency.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife, three children, sister, and four brothers.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MD-962A448B
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

21 years. You could have gone home.
Police Officer O'Neill gave the Baltimore City Police Department 21 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Baltimore community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer O'Neill.

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

Agency

Department Baltimore Police Dept.

Location Baltimore, MD

Platform Identity baltpd.baltimore.md.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 16, 1949

Tour of Duty 21 yrs

Age 50

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness

Cause Detail Duty related illness

Police Officer Thomas J. O'Neill 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 MD, 15 of 377 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 4% of this state's fallen. That is 5.1 percentage points below the national rate of 9.1%.

At Baltimore Police Dept., 10 of 151 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 6.6% of this agency's fallen.

Baltimore Police Dept.

of 151 officers

6.6% Illness

MD — Statewide

of 377 officers

4% Illness

Nationwide

2,974

of 32,508 officers

9.1% Illness