Funeral escort officer killed.

Jerry Jacobson

Jerry Jacobson

PCS Member
Tuscaloosa, Alabama Police Officer Trevor Phillips, a 10-year veteran of the department and a member of its SWAT team, was killed while working as an escort for a funeral procession.

Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson told a local TV station that Officer Phillips was passing the procession on the left and a person “decided, apparently, that they no longer wanted to be a part of the funeral procession and decided to make a U-turn and were going to go the opposite way and unfortunately didn’t look before they did and turned in front of him and his motorcycle collided with the vehicle.”

This caused a collision in which Officer Phillips was thrown from the motorcycle.

Chief Anderson indicated that no charges have been filed against the driver who made the U-turn and caused the fatal accident.
 
Thats too bad. The procession must have been going to slow and the car wanted to get out of it to get to the gravesite faster. People need to slow down and not be in such a rush all the time. Very senseless accident.
 
Well I sure as hell hope they get around to charging the driver. You don't kill a cop and walk away. Although the officer who was ran over in the jurisdiction next to me, his killer has still not been charged.
 
Three years ago, my wife, Sharon, and I drove our '76 Lincoln in a procession from Mansfield to near Canton, about 80 miles, using Rt. 30 most of the way. Ours was the last car in the formation, and the driving was white-knuckle all the way. As we were leaving Mfld, a woman in an SUV nearly took out our escort rider. She was coming toward the procession from our left and just kept coming, as tho we weren't even there. Had she not braked at the last second, I think she would have gotten the officer and us, too. After the cop dropped off on the eastern edge of Mfld., we encountered one heart-stopping moment after another, as driver after driver paid no attention at all to the funeral lineup. In fairness, I don't think the procession was properly marked, with only small beacons on the lead car and the hearse, and nothing for our car, except for the small funeral flag, to mark it as the last in the line. One truck came down an entrance ramp from our right side and damn near drove into the side of the hearse, whose driver bailed out to the left in a move such as you would normally see only in a movie. One of the scariest drives I have ever had.
 
Very unfortunate.

Several years ago, a similar thing happened around here. There had been a memorial 10K run for an officer killed a year earlier by a drunk driver. A police recruit died of a heart attack during the run. In the recruit's funeral procession, one of the motor officers escorting the procession was struck by a car - that officer died several months later of his injuries. Aaack!

We just lost a Maryland Trooper this week pursuing a speeding motorcycle.
 
John Royark JR said:
Thats too bad. The procession must have been going to slow and the car wanted to get out of it to get to the gravesite faster. People need to slow down and not be in such a rush all the time. Very senseless accident.
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Why would someone want to arrive at the graveside before the funeral? Sometimes I think when there is a death people just are not thinking straight!
 
Larry Sears said:
Why would someone want to arrive at the graveside before the funeral? Sometimes I think when there is a death people just are not thinking straight!
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The way everyone is in a hurry now, who knows the reason. If you get there faster, you can get a good spot and be one of the first ones out of there so you can hurry and get back to texting every 30 seconds.
I know when I attended fellow PCS member Lloyd Rays funeral, people not in the procession were actually getting pissed, blowing horns and swearing because they had to wait a couple minuts longer than they would have normally had to wait.
 
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