Community mourns death of Lawrence Township police officer Sean VanDenberg
On one of his first stops as a Lawrence Township police officer, Sean VanDenberg pulled over a driver excessively speeding along state Route 21.
After taking the driver’s information, VanDenberg walked back to his cruiser with his field training officer, Dave Brown, and asked him, “What would you do?”
Brown deferred, telling VanDenberg that it was his stop and his decision.
More: Lawrence Township trustees take action to clean up nuisance properties
VanDenberg decided to give the driver a warning instead of a citation.
As they left, VanDenberg asked Brown again how he would have handled the stop.
“I would’ve written them a ticket because of the speed they were going,” Brown recalls himself saying.
VanDenberg responded that he thought they were good people who needed a chance to do better.
Brown, now chief of the Lawrence Township Police Department, said VanDenberg never stopped believing in people.
“No matter what the call was, Sean always found the good in people,” Brown said. “He always gave people the benefit of the doubt and did everything he could to put them in a better place. It didn’t matter whether they were the victim of the crime or the suspect; he always helped them be better at that moment.”
Brown, the Lawrence Township Police Department and the community this week are mourning the loss of VanDenberg, who died Saturday at age 53.
Brown said VanDenberg had been hospitalized since Dec. 4 and was battling multisystem organ failure. A week later, he began showing symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive for COVID-19 and pneumonia on Dec. 13.
Brown believes VanDenberg likely became infected while on duty on Dec. 3 when he drove a person with COVID-19 to the county jail to be booked on felony charges.
Funeral arrangements are pending. A GoFundMe page has been started to help the VanDenberg family with their unexpected medical and funeral expenses.
The Canal Fulton resident is survived by his wife, Jeanann, four children and two grandchildren.
VanDenberg's career as a police officer
VanDenberg, a Michigan native who was raised in the Stark County area, worked as a welder and fabricator before choosing to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer while in his mid-40s.
He began as a volunteer reserve officer with the Lawrence Township Police Department in May 2013 and was promoted to part-time officer a month later. He became a full-time officer with the department in 2014.
VanDenberg has held many official and unofficial roles in the department over the past eight years: He was a field training officer, a firearms instructor, a commercial truck enforcement officer, a trained sniper and a member of the Canton Metro SWAT Cooperative, where he partnered with many other Stark County law enforcement agencies.
He also was the guy that so many other officers considered their mentor. The one who would do the little things to help others through their day, such as wishing the dispatchers a good morning when he called in for service. He was the one whose contagious smile and laugh could lift the mood at the station.
“He was a guy who would go above and beyond for anyone at any time,” Brown said.
Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @kweirREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Lawrence Township police officer Sean VanDenberg died on Dec. 25
