BUFFALO TWP — It’s a dark time for the Buffalo Township Police Department.

The day after the burial of longtime officer-in-charge Lt. Alan Behanna, who died suddenly after collapsing outside his home, the department lost another one of its own.

Patrolman Jason Sappe, a 16-year member of the police force, died Tuesday night at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was 44 and leaves four children, the youngest being 4 years old.

“We’re devastated,” Janice Zubrin, the township’s secretary, said. “We’re like family here. We’re in shock.”

Sappe died due to complications from pneumonia, according to family.

“We’re in the process of grieving now,” John Haven, chairman of the township supervisors, said Wednesday morning. “The guys (fellow police officers) are pretty much busted out.”

Haven acknowledged the loss of two police officers within a week has left the community reeling, too.

“The whole township organization is mourning,” he said. “We’ve been grieving for one, now for two.”

Sappe, who lived in Gilpin Township, Armstrong County, contracted pneumonia after getting the flu, said his father, Gene Sappe of Gilpin Township.

He was diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome — a life-threatening lung condition that prevents sufficient oxygen from getting to the lungs and blood — after being admitted April 10 to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights,

Sappe was placed in a medically-induced coma and taken by a medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

He required a respirator for his pulmonary problems and in time he needed dialysis, He suffered a brain hemorrhage Monday.

Sappe had no prior medical condition, his family said, which makes his swift and sudden death even more confusing.

“He was a health nut and into vitamins, and he exercised and stayed fit,” Gene Sappe said of his son. “That’s what’s so stunning about this. He paid attention to his health.”

Township officials Tuesday afternoon got word that Sappe would not survive.

“We were told they were taking him off life support,” Haven said. “Our police went to the hospital to be with him.”

Five current and two former officers traveled to AGH to be near their brother in blue. The visit touched the dying policeman’s family.

“We can’t say enough about the brotherhood of the Buffalo Township Police Department,” Gene Sappe said. “They came down and sat with us for hours Tuesday.

“They cried with us and they offered every kind of support.”

The contingent of officers returned home between 5 and 5:30 p.m.

The police department and township officials would soon receive word that Sappe died at 6:30 p.m.

“Devastating,” said Zubrin, who has been secretary for nearly a quarter century.

She said Sappe’s death hits even harder given that the township was still hurting from Behanna’s death.

A 34-year veteran of the township police force, Behanna died April 13 at Butler Memorial Hospital.

He died while on duty when he returned to his home on Hepler Road after forgetting to take medication, Haven said. He collapsed outside.

A fellow officer administered CPR to Behanna before an ambulance took him to the hospital.

The deaths of the two officers leaves the township force — comprised of three full-time and three part-time officers — depleted.

State police, upon learning of Behanna’s death, quickly offered their assistance with troopers to answer calls and patrol the township.

“The state police have done a fantastic job,” Haven said. “They’ve been driving around here letting everyone know they’re around. They’ve really stepped up to the plate.”

He said it was too soon to discuss what the supervisors plan to do with the department in wake of the recent deaths.

Zubrin remembered Sappe as good natured and easy going. He loved his children, ages 25, 18, 15 and 4, of whom he had joint custody.

“He liked snakes,” she said.

She recalled he kept the reptiles as pets. It was a hobby that came with risk.

“A few years ago he almost died when he got bit by one of them,” she said. “It was a rattlesnake.”

“He fancied himself as an amateur herpetologist,” Sappe’s father said. His son years ago also kept a 5-foot alligator — in his outdoor pool.

Sappe also enjoyed boating. He was a licensed Coast Guard captain.

“His nickname was ‘Captain J,’” Zubrin said.

District Judge Sue Haggerty of Saxonburg, whose court jurisdiction encompasses Buffalo Township, said she was “shocked” when she heard of Sappe’s death.

Haggerty swore in the officer Oct. 1, 2000, when he joined the township’s police ranks as a part-time office. It didn’t take long for him to be hired full-time.

“He was low key and a good officer,” she said.

Haven, who believes a grief counselor may be needed to help other officers cope with the loss of their two colleagues, described Sappe as a dedicated officer committed to serving the public.

“He was a no-nonsense guy with a good sense of humor,” Haven said. “He took his job seriously but tried to approach it with a sense of humor.”

Sappe loved being a policeman, his family stated with pride.

“He was a protector of the innocent; that’s the way he always was,” Gene Sappe said. “His pet peeve was domestic violence. If you laid your hand on a woman or a child, you would have to answer for it.”

Sappe will be buried in his township police uniform. An Army bomb squad veteran, he will receive military honors.

The Clawson Funeral Home in Leechburg is handling his funeral arrangements.