Officer Fitzgerald was killed in a vehicle accident while responding to a call.

On January 9, 1933, Officers Fitzgerald and Joseph Hinds were on their way to a call when they were hit a the intersection of 63rd and Troost by another car. The 17 year-old male driver told the police that he could not hear the police car's siren. A 20 year-old female passenger in the car also died of her injuries. Officer Fitzgerald died of his injuries on January 10, 1933. He was pronounced dead at General Hospital from a skull fracture.

Officer Fitzgerald, 42, was a World War I veteran and had been with the agency for one year. He was survived by his wife, Minnie Fitzgerald, and a son, Richard (12). Parents: T.J. and May Fitzgerald.
Interred: Calvary Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.