Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 11, 1995 TAG: 9509110147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Roach, 40, was riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle east on Virginia 40 near Endicott about 2:30 p.m. when he lost control, a state police report said. He was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:05 p.m.
Jerry Olinger, a Virginia Tech police investigator, said Roach was traveling with Tech police Officer Wendell Flinchum and several others.
Roach was a second-generation police officer, Olinger said. His father, Danny, once was chief of police in Blacksburg.
Roach had been a member of the Blacksburg Rescue Squad and worked with the Christiansburg Police Department before joining the state police, Olinger said.
More recently, Roach had been coordinating the Montomery County Drug Task Force, which is made up of representatives from the state police, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the police departments of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Virginia Tech.
Among the task force's accomplishments is the establishment of a 24-hour telephone hot line for people with information about illegal drug activity. Within weeks of its June unveiling, the hot line was deemed a success.
The task force also orchestrated the indictment of 28 people on drug charges, and the subsequent arrest of 18 of them from Shawsville to Radford in a single day.
Staff writer Kathy Loan contributed information to this story.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB