It was almost business as usual at the State College Police Department on Tuesday.
Phone calls came in, officers responded and reports were filed. But beneath the veneer of normalcy, there was an unmistakeable melancholy that hung in the air.
Tuesday was the first day in nearly 20 years that officer Robert Bradley was no longer a part of the department. His unexpected death on Monday left a void for his many friends and colleagues, who wore black bands over their badges as a sign of their mourning.
“Bob was the guy that, if he was on your call, you knew he was going to do everything he could to make a bad situation better,” says Sgt. Todd Scholton, a friend and supervisor of Bradley’s for nearly two decades.
Bradley, 43, passed away unexpectedly while on duty on Monday. He had stopped by his home, left his cruiser running in the driveway and was later found unresponsive by a family member. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at Mount Nittany Medical Center that afternoon.
State College Police Chief Tom King says Bradley, a 19 year veteran of the department, exemplified the qualities he looks for in a police officer: hard-working, self-sacrificing, and always willing to help those in need.
“It was his great concern for the well-being of others that made him not just such a special police officer, but such a special person,” King says.
Bradley volunteered for special training to be on the department’s crises intervention team. King says Bradley was always deeply concerned with helping others, and joined the crises intervention team in the hopes of serving individuals in their times of greatest need.
King recalls an instance where Bradley was one of the officers who responded to a fatal car crash, which ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. But King says Bradley didn’t stop working when he finished filing a crash report. Instead, he stayed in contact with the family that lost a loved one, standing by them in their time of grief.
“I know how much that meant to that family, based on the letters they sent the department thanking him,” King says.
Lt. Chris Fishel remembers Bradley as “an exceptionally bright and kind man.” He describes Bradley as extremely well liked, and a devoted father and husband. Fishel recalls that Bradley kept photos of wife and children in his locker at the police station, in a place where he could see them each day.
According to Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers, Bradley’s death was the result of natural causes and no foul play is suspected. A police funeral service is scheduled for Friday morning, following a viewing on Wednesday evening.
Bradley is survived by a wife, three young children and an adult stepchild.
Mike Gibboney, a captain with the Boalsburg Fire Police, has started an online fundraiser to support the Bradley family. By Wednesday morning, the campaign had raised more than $3,000 with over 60 donors contributing.
In addition to working full-time with the police department and raising a family, Scholton says Bradley also attended night classes at Widener University to earn a law degree. He would make the lengthy drive to the Harrisburg-based law school several times a week, and ended up passing the bar exam on his first try.
“We were all around Bob when the results from the bar exam were posted online,” Scholton says. “I think he’d talked himself into thinking he wasn’t going to pass the first time, but when he did, he was so ecstatic and proud, and so were we.”
On Monday morning, Scholton was one of a number of officers who heard the call go out that Bradley was in need of medical assistance at his home. He says he was filled with a mix of fear, worry and hope – but, as a police officer, he knows not every call ends the way he would like.
“I lost a friend on Monday,” Scholton says. “We all did.”
