Roll of Honor
Incident
Sergeant Ronald Phillips suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to free his patrol car after it became stuck during a snow storm.
After several attempts of trying to move it, he called for a tow truck. When the tow truck arrived eight minutes later, the driver found Sergeant Phillips suffering from cardiac arrest inside the patrol car. He was transported to Annie Jeffrey Memorial County Health Center where he died a short time later.
Sergeant Phillips had served with the Polk County Sheriff's Department for five years, and had served in law enforcement for 20 years. He had previously served as chief of police of Syracuse Police Department, Ainsworth Police Department, and Minden Police Department.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NE-A72E4380- 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
20 years. You could have gone home.
Sergeant Phillips gave the Polk County Sheriff's Office 20 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Osceola community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Phillips.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sergeant Ronald H. Phillips 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 NE, 10 of 151 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 6.6% of this state's fallen. That is 2.6 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Ronald H. Phillips's cause is highlighted.
How Ronald H. Phillips Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Ronald H. Phillips is highlighted in Jan.