Inspector Phillip C. Via

Phillip C. Via

Inspector Phillip Via succumbed to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident while providing an escort for President Calvin Coolidge near Waynesboro, Virginia, while he and his wife were staying at Swannanoa Palace for the Thanksgiving holiday in 1928.

His conditioned worsened, causing him to develop pneumonia. He passed away at his home in Stanardsville on January 11th, 1929.

Inspector Via was a US Army veteran of WWI. He had served with the Greene County Sheriff's Office prior to joining the Virginia State Police. He was survived by his wife and two children.

On March 14, 1942, the Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles was split into the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of State Police. The Virginia State Police assumed highway patrol duties while the Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement Division assumed investigative duties.