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Community & everyday lifeDavid W. Witmer and the Trevorton Response
A November 1983 newspaper account records a Shamokin officer’s death and the efforts of neighboring officers to bring him to hospital.
In the predawn hours of November 13, 1983, officers from several departments responded to an emergency in Trevorton. Among them was Corporal David W. Witmer of the Shamokin Police Department. The Daily Item reported the following day that Witmer, thirty-five, had been fatally shot during the response.
Accounts printed on the same page described efforts to bring the wounded officer to an ambulance. Former Zerbe Township policeman Edward Hull and acting police chief Sam Bleistein helped move him from the scene. The newspaper reported that Witmer was pronounced dead on arrival at Shamokin State General Hospital.
The response also left Ralpho Township officer Stewart Appel injured. The paper said he was treated at the same hospital for cuts from glass after a window in his police car was shattered. These details show the immediate human cost of an emergency that drew officers from neighboring communities.