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Services, walkthrough scheduled for Endicott College police sergeant killed by wrong-way driver
"In his 15 years with us he was the model for community policing."
Funeral services and a law enforcement walkthrough for the Endicott College police sergeant who died early Thanksgiving morning will be held Monday, officials announced this week.
Jeremy Cole
Sergeant Jeremy Cole of Exeter, New Hampshire was leaving his evening shift on Endicott’s campus when his SUV was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver on I-95 north in Newbury, according to a statement from Endicott College police Chief Kerry Ramsdell.
Authorities said that law enforcement officers had been preparing a tire-deflation device in Georgetown in an effort to stop the wrong-way driver – identified as Keoma Duarte – but Duarte’s Tesla hit Cole’s vehicle before it reached the device.
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Cole, 49, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Duarte, 40, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of liquor and operating recklessly; manslaughter; and motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, officials announced Tuesday.
The law enforcement walkthrough will take place Monday at 1:30 p.m. at the Campbell Funeral Home at 525 Cabot St. in Beverly, Ramsdell said in a subsequent statement. There will be a public wake at the funeral home from 2 to 8 p.m.
Following Cole’s death, the Endicott community came together to honor the police sergeant and support his family. Endicott College student Benjamin Fridlington started a GoFundMe for Cole’s family, which has now raised upwards of $100,000 as of Thursday.
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Endicott College has also promised to offer Cole’s children free tuition when they reach college age, the school told Boston.com.
“He used his talent for remembering people and his sense of humor, and leaned on his experience as a father of four, to break down barriers and connect with others,” Ramsdell said.
The police sergeant, affectionately known as “J. Cole,” left an “indelible mark on the community,” the college wrote of Cole, who worked at Endicott for more than a decade.
“I am heartbroken. No Endicott officer was more well known or loved across campus than Sgt. Cole,” Ramsdell said. “In his 15 years with us he was the model for community policing.”
On Tuesday night, roughly 1,000 people attended a vigil for Cole, according to Ramsdell.
“You are forever our bright light, J. Cole,” the college wrote on Facebook.
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