William Heaviside

New York City Police Department — New York, NY

Illness

End of Watch January 18, 1883

Age 41

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

The Vigil Panel 7 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 1,236

Incident

Patrolman William Heaviside died from an infection he contracted after being bitten by a sick person he was attempting to aid.

Patrolman Heaviside was called to the corner of James Street and Cherry Street, in Manhattan, to aid a person having a seizure. While attending to and assisting the person, Patrolman Heaviside was bitten on the right hand. The hand became infected and swollen soon after. As time passed, the infection got worse, and doctors informed Patrolman Heaviside that he had to have his hand amputated. Patrolman Heaviside refused to have the surgery and died 11 months after being bitten.

Patrolman Heaviside was assigned to the 4th Precinct, which is the present day 5th Precinct.

God bless you and thank you for your service.

Larry Kissane (Ret) NYPD January 19th, 2024

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-NY-1BAEED22
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

143 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Patrolman Heaviside gave the New York Municipal Police Department 9 years.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.

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

Agency

Department New York City Police Department

Location New York, NY

Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch January 18, 1883

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Age 41

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness

Patrolman William Heaviside 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 NY, 629 of 2,147 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 29.3% of this state's fallen. That is 20.2 percentage points above the national rate of 9.1%.

At New York City Police Department, 521 of 1237 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 42.1% of this agency's fallen.

New York City Police Department

521

of 1,237 officers

42.1% Illness

NY — Statewide

629

of 2,147 officers

29.3% Illness

Nationwide

2,974

of 32,508 officers

9.1% Illness