Off-Duty Montco Cop Who Died In Bicycle Accident Suffered Blunt Force Trauma: Coroner

LANCASTER, PA — The off-duty Norristown police officer who had survived stage four cancer a handful of years back, only to die a tragic death during a bicycling accident in Lancaster County this past weekend, died of blunt force trauma with internal injuries, according to the Berks County Coroner's Office.

Chief Deputy Coroner George Holmes told Patch that Brian Kozera, 44, of Montgomery County, was pronounced dead at Reading Hospital on Saturday, where he had been taken following a crash in neighboring Lancaster.

Holmes said Kozera, who was reportedly training for an upcoming Ironman competition in Hawaii, died from blunt force trauma relating to the accident.

Kozera had some type of identification on him at the time of the accident.

"We were able to identify him pretty quickly because of that," Holmes said by phone.

Holmes said he did not find out Kozera was an off-duty police officer from Montgomery County until later.

Holmes said that it appears Kozera's accident occurred in Lancaster County, but he was transported to Reading Hospital following the crash where he was pronounced dead, which is why Berks County handled the death investigation.

Holmes said that he didn't yet have the entire investigatory report from the Pennsylvania State Police, but that details he was made aware of appear to show Kozera may have swerved into the opposite lane of travel while Kozera was riding his bicycle on a Lancaster roadway.

"His injuries are consistent with that," Holmes said.

Holmes said that reports he saw showed Kozera was identified as "Unit 1," and that "Unit 2," a pickup truck, may have run him over during the crash, although he stressed that those details would have to be confirmed by state troopers who investigated the accident.

Patch reached out to the Pennsylvania State Police to try and confirm the details in the case.

A spokesman in Harrisburg told a reporter he would have to talk with a spokesperson at the individual Lancaster barracks, but a voicemail left there was not immediately returned.

Kozera, a 16-year-veteran with the Norristown Police Department, had reportedly participated in various athletic challenges in the years since he went into remission following treatment for a rare type of lymphoma.

He had recently been training for an Ironman event slated to take place this coming October in Hawaii.

More about Kozera can be read in Patch's report from Monday. That story can be found here.