Incident
Chief Frederick Plumstead was killed in a motorcycle accident while returning to Roxbury after testifying in court in Newark, New Jersey. Chief Plumstead was driving his department motorcycle when it began to rain heavily. Chief Plumstead struck the rear of a parked truck on Mine Hill Road at 2240 hours and was seriously injured. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries at 0200 hours the next morning. Chief Plumstead had been Chief for three years and had served as a special officer prior to that.
Survivors
He was survived by his expectant wife and five children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NJ-FB7570AE- 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 Plumstead gave the Roxbury Township Police Department 3 years.
Thank you for your service to the Ledgewood community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Plumstead.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police Frederick Plumstead 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 NJ, 258 of 646 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.9% of this state's fallen. That is 8.9 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Frederick Plumstead's cause is highlighted.
How Frederick Plumstead Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Frederick Plumstead is highlighted in Apr.