Christopher Birch, 31, was wearing a helmet on a Wayne County road when he “hit a water hole on a quad and the front wheels caught” around 4 p.m. yesterday, Robert Metzdorf, his wife’s uncle, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He was propelled forward and suffered head trauma. CPR was performed with negative results.”
Birch (#529), who was married in April, was honored last year by Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s New Jersey chapter for his work taking dangerous DWI drivers off the road.
The 31-year-old Wyckoff native, a Kean University graduate, joined the department in January 2007 after working as a special police officer in North Haledon.
He recently participated in the MPPD’s leg of the Special Olympics Torch Run.
Birch is survived by his wife, Karen, his parents, James and Donna, and his brother, Cory.
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