Officer Down Memorial

Deputy Donald Schavolt suffered a fatal heart attack after being kicked in the chest by a juvenile suspect during an arrest attempt.

He and three other deputies had responded to a noise complaint and found the suspect lying in the street when they arrived. The suspect violently resisted arrest and it took four deputies to restrain him.

Deputy Schavolt transported the suspect to a local medical center where he again resisted. Later, Deputy Schavolt went and sat down inside at the hospital and then collapsed. The suspect was charged as a juvenile with second degree murder, and resisting arrest with violence as a result of Deputy Schavolt’s death.

A autopsy determined that Deputy Schavolt’s heart attack did not directly result from being kicked in the chest. The suspect’s charges were reduced to felony battery, resisting arrest, and two counts of misdemeanor assault.

Deputy Schavolt is survived by his wife and four children.

Deputy Hobbs died as a result of being exposed to high levels of herbicide while recovering a stolen vehicle nine years earlier.

Deputy Hobbs was examining the vehicle on June 7, 1991, when a crop duster inadvertently sprayed him as it flew overhead. The herbicide caused severe neurological damage that caused his health to deteriorate until his death on December 9, 2000.

Deputy Hobbs was a Vietnam War veteran. He is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, sister, and a brother.

Sergeant Hunt was shot and killed while attempting to stop an ATM robbery. While Sergeant Hunt was searching one of the suspects the other pulled out a handgun and shot him in the face twice, killing him instantly.

The suspect then tried to commit suicide but survived. He was found guilty of Sergeant Hunt’s murder and sentenced to death. However, in June of 1998, the Florida Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to life in prison because the murder was not premeditated.

Sergeant Hunt is survived by his wife and two sons.

Deputy Anita Pospisil was killed when her patrol car was broadsided by a truck which had run a red light at the intersection of Jupiter Farms Road and Indiantown Road.

Deputy Pospisil had served with the agency for four years. She is survived by her husband and son.

Deputy Dickinson was shot and killed while attempting to serve a court order on a disturbed Vietnam War veteran. The suspect was barricaded in his home and opened fire on Deputy Dickinson with high-powered rifle.

The suspect was eventually taken into custody. He was convicted of second degree murder but released after only 12 years. The man died in 2003.

Deputy Dickinson had served with the agency for 9 years.