A retired Broward Sheriff’s sergeant died in a “freak accident” with an RV in his Oakland Park neighborhood Wednesday, his family and a neighbor told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Craig Bachan had always planned to travel in his retirement. Within the last week, he purchased the RV and had mapped out a long trip to take with a family friend this summer out west and up into Alaska, his sister Cindee Easton said.
Bachan died in a “pure accident” when he was working on the RV and it fell on top of him, neighbor David Nagle said. Another neighbor called 911.
Connor Bachan, Bachan’s son, said the family did not have many details about what happened as of Thursday but that it was a “freak accident.”
The Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that detectives do not suspect foul play, pending an autopsy. Their investigation is ongoing.
Bachan spent nearly three decades working for the Sheriff’s Office, for many of those years investigating crimes against some of the most vulnerable victims.
He excelled at getting criminals to divulge in his years working crimes against children cases, Easton said. He worked his way up to sergeant and retired last July with that title in the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea district. He turned 64 last month.
Bachan’s parents moved the family from Minnesota to Oakland Park when he and his sister were young children, Easton said. Bachan began his career with BSO later into his 20s and remained there until his recent retirement.
“He just loved the work and the people that he worked with, and he really liked being able to solve a crime,” Easton said.
From 1999 to 2011, Bachan was a detective who had been assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit and then for 11 years to the Special Victims Unit, his LinkedIn says, and he investigated sex crimes, animal abuse, crimes against child and elderly victims and missing persons. He was promoted to sergeant in 2012.
In September 2000, he worked a case where detectives sought a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman aboard a cruise ship. The next year, he was involved in a case where a 73-year-old former foster father was charged with sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl in his care. In 2004, he investigated a 72-year-old man who was accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy. In 2006, he was the detective the Sheriff’s Office urged people to call if they were possible victims of a Deerfield Beach man who was accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl.
Outside of his career, Bachan’s pastime was fishing and spending time in nature, his sister said. He put his son, Connor, above all else.
“Our parents were very proud of him. Our family was very proud of him,” she said. “He will be missed beyond words.”
Information from the Sun Sentinel archives was used in this report.