the entire resort community and the
local law enforcement family strug-
gling for answers as they continue
to come to grips with the loss of two
beloved OCPD officers, including
one who was posthumously promot-
ed to Private First Class on
Wednesday.
into the ocean about a
quarter mile off the beach
at 130th Street, claiming
the lives of veteran OCPD
Officer Tom Geoghegan,
Jr., 43, of Ocean City, and
his passenger, OCPD Of-
ficer Joshua Adickes, 27,
of Berlin. In the days following the
tragic crash, local residents and vis-
itors, family members, friends and
fellow police officers continued to
come to grips with the tragic loss of
two dedicated and promising offi-
cers. Adickes was posthumously
promoted to Private First Class
Wednesday.
with the OCPD as a seasonal officer
in 1991 and has served each sum-
mer since 2002. Geoghegan served
numerous tours as an undercover
narcotics agent. At the time of his
assigned to the patrol division
where he worked on the evening
south shift.
with hundreds of hours logged tak-
ing friends and fellow officers up for
tours around the resort area. He
famously had cameras mounted on
his Nanchang CJ-6A plane to catch
flight-savvy passengers.
Over the last several
months, local resident
Bradley Wells was taking
flying lessons from Geo-
ghegan and this week re-
called his staunch profes-
sionalism in the cockpit.
always so professional
"Everything was always by the
book. We'd fly to Easton just to get
a bowl of crab soup and fly back,
but he was all business when we
were in the plane. He took it very
seriously and treated flying and the
plane with the utmost respect."
know Geoghegan over the last year
or so.
Tom over the last year and he loved