Thomas William Spears
Agency patch
Corporal

Thomas William Spears

Cardiac
End of Watch July 8, 1992
Age 47
Tour of Duty 18 yrs
The Vigil Panel 138 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Corporal Spears suffered a fatal heart attack while struggling with a man at a nightclub. Corporal Spears had served with the agency for 18 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and three children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-SC-5E8CFDFD
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.
Corporal Spears gave the Florence County Sheriff's Office 18 years.
Thank you for your service to the Effingham community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Corporal Spears.

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

Agency

Location Effingham, SC
Platform Identity fcso.florence.sc.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch July 8, 1992
Tour of Duty 18 yrs
Age 47
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Corporal Thomas William Spears 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 SC, 20 of 438 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.6% of this state's fallen. That is 0.6 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Florence County Sheriff's Office, 1 of 6 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 16.7% of this agency's fallen.

Florence County Sheriff's Office
1
of 6 officers
16.7% Cardiac
SC — Statewide
20
of 438 officers
4.6% Cardiac
Nationwide
1,306
of 32,508 officers
4% Cardiac

National Cause Distribution

How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Thomas William Spears's cause is highlighted.

Felonious
17,623 (54.2%)
Accident
10,088 (31%)
Illness
2,974 (9.1%)
Cardiac
1,306 (4%)
Undetermined
260 (0.8%)
Suicide
256 (0.8%)
vehicular
1 (0%)

How Thomas William Spears Compares

Age at End of Watch
47
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 48.6 years
Years of Service
18
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 15.6 years

When Cardiac Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Thomas William Spears is highlighted in Jul.

Jan
124
Feb
105
Mar
99
Apr
116
May
115
Jun
95
Jul
94
Aug
104
Sep
109
Oct
121
Nov
113
Dec
111