A veteran school district police officer was found dead at Washington High School Monday afternoon.
Sgt. Daryl Giles, 50, had broken up a student fight at the Bustleton Avenue school earlier Monday, said district spokesman Fernando Gallard, and afterward had told co-workers he didn’t feel good.
A familiar figure in the school’s hallways, Giles went missing, Gallard said, and was found unconscious in a staff bathroom. The school nurse tried to revive him, the spokesman said, and Giles was taken to Holy Redeemer Hospital in Montgomery County where he was pronounced dead. According to the Montgomery County coroner’s office, Giles dies of severe coronary heart disease. The cause or the severity of the student fight was unknown, Gallard said, adding three persons were taken into custody on disorderly conduct charges. Gallard said Giles, a school district officer for 19 years, was “beloved and respected by staff and students.”
Gallard said he was not sure how long Giles, known as Sarge, had worked at Washington.
“If there was anyone who got respect at that school, it was Sarge,” retired math teacher Lynne Kramer said Monday. “He always was right there where the action was.”
Kramer, who retired in 2010, said she knew Giles for six years and referred to him as a stabilizing force in the school building.
“When he was around, you just felt like things were in control,” she said.
Gallard said Monday that he didn’t have any information about funeral arrangements. ••
