Edmonds Police Chief David Stern died at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center early Wednesday morning, April 25, after suffering a brain aneurysm Tuesday afternoon.
Stern, 61, had served as chief of Edmonds police since 2001. Assistant chief Al Compaan has been named acting chief.
Stern is survived by his wife, Darlene; two adult children, Dawn and Darrin; grandchildren and a brother.
Arrangements for a funeral of the scale accorded a law-enforcement officer who died in the line of duty were underway the morning of The Enterprise’s deadline (see related story.)
The Edmonds City Council canceled its regular weekly meeting Tuesday night after receiving word of the chief’s condition.
“First and foremost he was a good man,” said Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson, a personal friend of Stern as well as the man who hired him. “He was a good man, a good family man, a good father and good police chief. One of the reasons I chose him (for chief) was his … involvement in the community.”
Stern was serving his second term as president of the Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce and was president-elect of the Rotary Club of Edmonds. He also was a member of the Shoreline Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Council and the Edmonds School District Emergency Response and Recovery Committee.
According to Edmonds police, Lynnwood and Edmonds firefighters/paramedics followed by Edmonds police responded to a report of a driver slumped over the wheel of a car at about 1:50 p.m. Tuesday in the 17500 block of Talbot Road. The driver, who was identified as Stern, was rushed to Harborview.
Haakenson said it appears Stern pulled over when he realized he was having a medical emergency. The chief did not regain consciousness from the time emergency personnel found him until he passed away, the mayor added.
Shortly before the incident, Stern had attended a Rotary Club meeting. Club members reported they noticed nothing unusual about his behavior.
He then went to his Meadowdale-area home to let out the family dog, according to Campaan.
The news was “totally unexpected,” Campaan said. “This isn’t what any of us planned on today,” the acting chief said in an emotional interview Wednesday. Stern “jogged … ate well … did all the right things,” he added.
Among the friends and colleagues who remained outside Stern’s hospital room until his passing were members of the Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake and Seattle police departments. Seattle police posted an armed guard as a show of respect, the mayor said.
Haakenson said he went to the hospital as soon as he was notified of the chief’s condition and remained there until his passing. The mayor was briefly admitted to Harborview Tuesday and treated for vertigo he had been suffering since that morning.
Stern was named Edmonds chief of police in October of 2001. He had retired as a police commander in Santa Maria, Calif.
For 32 years Stern was involved with law enforcement in California, working patrol, traffic and investigations. He served as chair of the Snohomish County E-911 Advisory Board, chair of the Snohomish County Technology Committee, member and past president of the Snohomish County Sheriff and Police Chiefs Association, member of the Snohomish County Homeland Security Strategy Committee, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the FBI Seattle Counterterrorism Advisory Board.
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