Ptl. Donald R. Kowalski
1954 - 1979

24 years old
Tour of Duty: Six Months
Died on September 4, 1979

Cause of Death: Automobile Accident

Date of Incident: Tuesday, September 4, 1979

Weapon Used : Stolen Car,operated by a teenager

Suspect Info: N/A

Patrolman Kowalski joined the Somersworth Police Department on April 22, 1979. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1979, he moved with his wife, to Dover, New Hampshire. He graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. Prior to becoming a police officer in New Hampshire he worked for five years as a security officer for Salem Hospital in Massachusetts. He received an Associates Degree in Law Enforcement from North Shore Community College in Beverly, Massachusetts and was a member of the Danvers, Massachusetts Fish and Game Club.

He was the first Somersworth Police Officer to be killed in the line of duty in the Department’s history.

On the morning of September 4, 1979, a car stolen by a teenager struck Patrolman Kowalski’s cruiser on High Street as Patrolman Kowalski tried to use his cruiser as a roadblock. T

he cruiser was struck broadside and overturned as a result of the impact. Patrolman Kowalski was taken to Wentworth-Douglass hospital in Dover where he died an hour later. He was 25 years old.

He was survived by his wife and his eighteen-month-old daughter.