Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief of Police John Bigbee succumbed to injuries received while fighting a fire three months earlier. The fire occurred at a farm down the street from his home. As he was assisting at the scene, he received a leg injury. The injury eventually caused blood poisoning, leading to his death. Chief Bigbee had served in law enforcement for 30 years and was Cranston's first police chief.
Survivors
He was survived by his son.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-RI-ED0E0E90- 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
30 years. You could have gone home.
Chief of Police Bigbee gave the Cranston Police Department 30 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Cranston community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Bigbee.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police John Bigbee 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 RI, 23 of 55 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 41.8% of this state's fallen. That is 10.8 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
At Cranston Police Department, 1 of 3 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.3% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John Bigbee's cause is highlighted.
How John Bigbee Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. John Bigbee is highlighted in Dec.
Others Who Wore This Badge
2 officers from Cranston Police Department are honored on badge.nw.
