Another Sheepdog Lost - 1st Sergeant Tobin Triebel (MSP)

Firefighters Peter Johnson and John Neary place a black cloth over the sign on the Maryland State Police helicopter hangar at the Frederick Airport on Monday afternoon. The drape was placed to honor 1st Sgt. Tobin Triebel who worked as a flight paramedic for 13 years and was killed last Friday in Hillsborough, N.C. Photo by Bill Green News-Post Staff

From news reports... (November 10, 2008)


Trooper Killed in North Carolina


By Ashley Andyshak News-Post Staff


A Maryland State Police trooper died Friday morning while vacationing in North Carolina.


Police said 1st Sgt. Tobin Triebel, 39, of New Market, was struck by a tree-trimming truck while jogging on a rural road in Hillsborough. He died at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.


Triebel, a 13-year veteran of the force, was a flight paramedic and supervisor of the training section at the department's Aviation Headquarters in Baltimore. He spent most of his career at the aviation command's Frederick hangar.


Triebel is survived by his wife, Susan, and two daughters, Hanna, 16 and Erika, 13.


Lt. Walter Kerr has known Triebel since Triebel joined the state police. Kerr is one of five troopers who traveled to North Carolina on Friday after hearing about Triebel's accident.


Kerr said Triebel always pushed people to do their best. The two studied together for a promotion exam earlier this year, and though Kerr got the promotion to lieutenant this summer, he said Triebel did the better job in challenging him.


Triebel organized an open house at the Frederick MSP hangar in 2005 to commemorate Sept. 11, 2001, and also celebrate the 35th anniversary of the aviation command. On a limited budget and with very little credit, Triebel put on the biggest and best open house Kerr can remember in his 20 years on the force, with more than 3,000 people in attendance, he said.


Kerr said he and the other troopers got word about 10 p.m. Friday that Triebel was brain dead. The hospital kept him on life support until his organs could be donated Saturday, Kerr said.


"That says it all about Tobin," Kerr said. "He helped people even in his death." Troopers will bring Triebel's cremated remains home today.


"We've lost a very valuable person, a person who loved his job and gave not only to his job but to the community more than you can imagine," Kerr said. "It's a very big loss to our unit."


Capt. Dan Cornwell, assistant commander of the MSP's aviation unit, said he first met Triebel in 1996 when he transferred into the unit.


"Tobin had a knack for coordinating and facilitating and making things happen," Cornwell said. "He was very positive, a 'glass is half-full' kind of person."


When Cornwell was reassigned to Aviation Headquarters last summer and tasked with building a team to ready the command for the future, Triebel stepped up and volunteered to work at the Baltimore headquarters even though it meant a longer commute for him, Cornwell said.


Though he was dedicated to his job, Triebel struck a good balance between work and personal time, finding time to travel with his family, work with his daughters' soccer teams, and play with the Frederick Rugby Football Club.


"When he worked he worked hard, when he played he played hard, and he really enjoyed the time with his children and his wife and his off-duty friends," Cornwell said.

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