Off-Duty NJ Officer Who Died Crash Remembered: 'The Nicest Guy I Ever Met'

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Friends and colleagues were remembering an Ocean County sheriff's officer as someone who always had a smile and a positive outlook, as they mourned his death in a crash Monday in Lakewood.

Brian D. Stockhoff, 41, was killed when his Toyota Sienna hit a brick wall outside of Leisure Village East on Shorrock Street early Monday morning. The crash remains under investigation by Lakewood police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Stockhoff, who graduated from Point Pleasant Beach High School, had worked for the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department before joining the Ocean County Sheriff's Office in 2008, Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said Tuesday.

"He was just a great person," Mastronardy said, an officer who always had a positive outlook, and always had a smile on his face.

That was evident in photo after photo posted in public tributes to him by friends and coworkers, who called him hardworking, caring and supportive, and in photos on his own Facebook page: smile after smile, often with his wife and two children.

"Brian had such a light — a presence about him. His smile, his humor, his attitude. He was such a great person," one friend wrote, adding his family "lost such a wonderful human."

"You were the nicest guy I ever met," another wrote, adding, "all the great ones are taken too early."

Stockhoff had a range of interests, including playing golf and softball with friends, attending concerts and he was a volunteer youth football coach.

Mastronardy said Stockhoff was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, where he was a journalist.

But he was best known professionally for starting the Ocean County Sheriff's Department's mounted unit. Mastronardy said that began shortly after his tenure as county sheriff began.

"I was walking through the department asking people what they thought we needed to bring to the department," Mastronardy said. "Brian said, 'I would start a mounted unit.'"

"I said that's great, but where are we going to get a horse," Mastronardy said, and Stockhoff said, "I have one."

"We had a bring your child to work day not long after, and I said, 'Can you bring your horse?'" Mastronardy said. The mounted unit launched shortly after, with fundraisers paying for training and the insurance to cover having a mounted unit in the department.

Stockhoff and his horse, Sambuca, then began appearing at public events, starting with the Ocean County Fair, but also assisted in searches and patrols, Mastronardy said. Sambuca died in 2017, but was soon replaced by Kianti, and Stockhoff and Kianti patroled the Barnegat Rail Trail along with other park patrol details.

"He just took the program to another level," Mastronardy said. "He sat tall in the saddle."

"Brian brought smiles to all who were blessed to have met him," another friend wrote. "My children knew him as the sheriff on Kianti the horse. He answered all my kids' questions about Kianti, always waved to us at parades, and made us laugh by rocking his head up and down with Kianti, teaching my children why the horse was doing that. Then Kianti pooped and Brian was so patient and just a natural at bringing joy and knowledge to all ages even if it meant talking about poop!"

"This is his legacy," that friend wrote. "Nobody can replace him, but his legacy will live on. Thank you for all the joy you blessed us with. Forever in our hearts."

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

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