Alameda County Deputy Remembered After Dying of COVID-19

VIDEO: Deputies form guard of honor and greet Oscar Rocha.
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WALNUT CREEK – Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Rocha loved his job so much that when he died Thursday night of COVID-19 complications, he had his badge on hand when the sudden roar of a police guard was heard. motorcycle honor outside the hospital room.

His wife told him that they had arrived, and at that moment he passed.

“They were ready to take him home,” said Maureen Ennor Rocha in a phone interview on Friday.

She said motorcycle officers from the California Highway Patrol, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the Walnut Creek and Concord Police Departments turned up at the John Muir Health Center in Walnut Creek to escort Rocha , 57, to the coroner’s office. There they formed an honor guard, with dozens of officers, including Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern, greeting their colleague when officers brought his body inside.

“That healed a large part of my heart last night,” said Ennor Rocha upon seeing the outpouring of support.

Her husband is the first Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy to die in the line of duty of COVID-19. She contracted the highly contagious disease at St Rita’s prison in Dublin during an outbreak in June, Sgt. Ray Kelly said Friday.

“Our hearts are heavy today. But we are glad that Oscar is not suffering and is at peace, “Kelly said.

A principal member of the sheriff’s office, Rocha worked with the department for 25 years, primarily at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland as a bailiff or at the security entrances of the courthouse and adjacent county administrative building.

Kelly, who attended the police academy with Rocha, called him loyal and trustworthy. He was a friend, Kelly said, and a fond of cigar and Scotch whiskey.

“The best way to describe Oscar is one of the people you know in life, he is stable. He’s just a trustworthy, trustworthy person, “Kelly said.” He never complained or called the sick or made excuses. He was loyal. “

“He never shook himself,” said his wife. “That is why it was so successful. He was able to handle anything, and he never lost patience. “

Rocha grew up in San Ramón and recently lived in Danville with his wife. The two had known each other since they were 14 years old and attended California high school together in San Ramón. They reconnected nine years ago.

“I never knew he was in love with me,” said Ennor Rocha. “Through the magic of Facebook, almost 30 years later, he got closer.”

“That’s Oscar for you,” he said. “He took his time with everything.”

He was a huge fan of the San Francisco Giants and the 49ers, so it was almost natural when he proposed to her in a Giants game. In the jumbotron. In front of 46,000 people.

“I was surprised, I have never been so surprised in my entire life,” she said. “It was really cute.”

The two were married in Hawaii on New Year’s Day 2014. Ennor Rocha said they had gone there on vacation, just the two of them, and decided to get married during that trip.

Rocha loved the sport so much that he even named his English bulldog “Bochy” after former Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The pair had season tickets for the 49ers, and he also followed Stanford University soccer. She loved live events, and the two used to go to music concerts.

“The worst part is that when he died yesterday, he was thinking, his life has just disappeared. All the things he loved and did went away, ”she said, her voice lost.

Rocha contracted COVID-19 about a month ago and had been in the hospital for more than three weeks. His wife also contracted the virus and was in the hospital for two weeks, but recovered.

Meanwhile, her husband was admitted to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator, fighting for his life.

“It just shows how this disease takes over and starts suffocating you,” Kelly said.

Kelly described Rocha as a tough person and, although he was not a young man, he was generally healthy. But COVID-19 simply “devastated” his body and respiratory system, Kelly said. Unfortunately, because the virus is so contagious, Rocha had to spend most of his time alone in the hospital. But every night the nurses put the phone to his ear so his wife could talk to him.

On Thursday night, Sheriff Jayson Landeza’s office chaplain went to the hospital to give Rocha, a Catholic, his last rites. The deputy died peacefully with his plate and rosaries in his hands.

“Oscar’s death is a reminder to everyone, no matter who he is, that this virus is not a joke,” Kelly said.

“Rep. Rocha who seemed to work in our courtroom was always a pleasant sight,” Superior Court Judge Andrew Steckler said in a statement released Friday. “His friendly, kind, and tolerant manner, in a job that required his strength and resolve at the same time, was a role model for others and will be greatly missed.”