‘He was loyal’: Alameda deputy dies from COVID-19
WALNUT CREEK >> Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Rocha loved his job so much that when he died Thursday night from COVID-19 complications, he had his badge in his hand as the sudden roar of a motorcycle honor guard outside his hospital room could be heard.
His wife told him they had arrived, and in that moment he passed.
“They were ready to take him home,” Maureen Ennor Rocha said in a phone interview Friday.
She said motorcycle officers from the California Highway Patrol, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the Walnut Creek and Concord police departments showed up at the John Muir Health center in Walnut Creek to escort Rocha, 57, to the coroner’s bureau. There they formed an honor guard, with dozens of officers including Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern saluting their colleague as deputies took his body inside,.
“That healed such a big part of my heart last night,” Ennor Rocha said of seeing the outpouring of support.
Her husband is the first Alameda County sheriff’s deputy to have died in the line of duty from COVID-19. He contracted the highly contagious disease at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin during an outbreak in June, Sgt. Ray Kelly said Friday.
“Our hearts are heavy today. But we’re glad Oscar isn’t suffering and he’s at peace,” Kelly said.
A senior member of the sheriff’s office, Rocha worked with the department for 25 years, mostly at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland as a bailiff or at the security entrances to the court
house and adjacent county administrative building.
Kelly, who attended the police academy with Rocha, called him loyal and dependable. He was a friend, Kelly said, and a cigar and scotch aficionado.
“The best way to describe Oscar, he’s one of the people you meet in life, he is just steady. He’s just a reliable person, dependable,” Kelly said. “He never complained or called in sick or made excuses. He was loyal.”
“He was never rattled,” his wife said. “That’s why he was so successful. He was able to handle anything, and he never lost patience.”
Rocha grew up in San Ramon and most recently lived in Danville with his wife. The two had known each other since they were 14 and attended California High School together in San
Ramon. They reconnected nine years ago.
“I never knew he had a crush on me,” Ennor Rocha said. “Through the magic of Facebook, almost 30 years later, he reached out.”
“That’s Oscar for you,” she said. “He took his time with everything.”
He was a big San Francisco Giants and 49ers fan, so it was almost natural when he proposed to her at a Giants game. On the Jumbotron. In front of 46,000 people.
“I was shocked, I had never been so surprised in my whole 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 for a vacation, just the two of them, and decided to get married while on that trip.
Rocha loved sports so much he even named their English bulldog Bochy after former Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The couple had season tickets to the 49ers, and he also followed Stanford University football. He loved live events, and the two often went to music concerts.
“The worst part is when he died yesterday, I was thinking, his life is just gone. All the things he loved and did, gone,” she said, her voice trailing.
Rocha came down with COVID-19 about a month ago and had been in the hospital 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 you how this disease creeps up on you and begins to smother you,” Kelly said.
Kelly described Rocha as a tough person and, although not a young man, he was generally healthy. But COVID-19 just “ravaged” his body and respiratory system, Kelly said. Unfortunately, because the virus is so contagious, Rocha had to spend much of the time in the hospital alone. But every night nurses would hold the phone to his ear so his wife could speak to him.
On Thursday night, sheriff’s office chaplain Jayson Landeza went to the hospital to give Rocha, a Catholic, his last rites. The deputy died peacefully with his badge and rosary beads in his hands.
“Oscar’s passing is a reminder to everyone, no matter who you are, that this virus is no joke,” Kelly said.
“Deputy Rocha appearing to work in our courtroom was always a welcome sight,” Superior Court Judge Andrew Steckler said in a statement released Friday. “His friendly, good natured and easygoing manner — in a job that required at the same time his strength and resolve — was a model for others, and will be missed terribly.”
District Attorney Nancy O’Malley released a statement calling Rocha “a fine deputy and an all-around nice man. He always had a smile on his face and was helpful to the public as they came into the court.”
Alameda County Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods also offered condolences to Rocha’s family and colleagues.
“We have been working tirelessly to protect everyone in the courts and the jails, but this virus is incredibly difficult to contain,” Woods said in the statement. “We must stay vigilant, and we must work together to protect our staff and the community. COVID-19 does not discriminate. Anyone is vulnerable at any time.”
Deputy Public Defender Jeff Chorney knew Rocha personally.
“He always treated me and my clients with respect,” Chorney said.
“Things can get tense in court, but he stayed mellow. I’m sorry this happened to him, and I’m sorry for his family and colleagues.”
Santa Rita Jail has been hit hard by COVID-19, with 104 inmates infected as of Friday. A total of 48 jail staff employees and contractors, including deputies, have also contracted the disease; a dozen currently have it.
One of the Santa Rita Jail inmates who contracted COVID-19 said Rocha sometimes worked in the kitchen unit. The inmate, Gilbert Martinez, was a kitchen worker and one of 40 inmates who tested positive last week.
Rocha leaves behind his wife, Maureen; son, Alex, of Mississippi; parents Oscar and Rosario Rocha, of Oakley; and three sisters. Funeral arrangements are pending.