Brian Kozera, an ironman athlete, police officer, and cancer survivor, died after being involved in a bicycle accident, according to TMZ Sports. He was 44 years old. Kozera was training for a competition before hitting a car in Caernarvon Township, Pennsylvania on Saturday. TMZ Sports said Kozera ran a stop sign and hit the passenger side of the vehicle. He was thrown from his bike and ended up being caught in the car’s reel wheel. Kozera was transported to a local hospital but died from his injuries.
Kozera was a 16-year veteran of the Norristown Police Department. Chief Derrick Woods said the driver stayed on the scene and the investigation is ongoing. He said that the death of Kozera is a “tragedy” and “a hole that we are never going to fill,” according to Fox 29. “Big loss for our department, for our community. I got so many emails and text messages from people in the community showing how much he mean to them, how much they’ll miss him.” Woods said.
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Kozera was training for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October. In 2014, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He beat it in 2015, which led to him competing in ironman competitions.
“Even facing a very challenging treatment, I set my sight on reaching my dreams of competing in an Ironman,” Kozera wrote in his blog. “I brought a stationary bike into the hospital where I continued to train in my room. Six months after my transplant, I completed my first step in achieving my goal by finishing the Philadelphia Marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes.”
The Norristown Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 31 released a statement on Kozera’s death. “Brian was a devoted husband, father of three daughters, friends to many, coach to several activities, IRONMAN, CANCER SURVIVOR, Mentor to anyone who needed, and a devoted Police Officer with the Norristown Police Department for 16 years,” the organization wrote on Facebook.
While he was with Norristown PD he served as a Use of Force Instructor for NPD and for MONTCO & Temple Police Academy. He served on the Bicycle Unit, was a School Resource Officer at Eisenhower Middle School, and engaged in many community events. … His mental toughest, endurance, and dedication he had for training was the same way he showed up for work everyday.”
