Cathedral City Police hold remembrance ceremony for fallen officer
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) - Cathedral City Police honored fallen officer Jermaine Gibson, Sr., who was killed during a high-speed pursuit in 2011.
CCPD held a remembrance ceremony on Wednesday.
"It has been 14 years since we tragically lost one of our own in the line of duty. Officer Jermaine A. Gibson Sr. will never be forgotten along with the dedication he had for his community and for making the ultimate sacrifice," reads a social media post by CCPD.
Gibson, 28, was killed in a fiery crash on March 19, 2011, during a high-speed pursuit of a stolen vehicle.
Gibson was a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He served with the Cathedral City Police Department for 18 months and served in law enforcement for three years, including in the city of Rialto.
He left behind a wife, Jessica, and a newborn son, Jermaine Gibson, Jr., who was just three weeks old at the time.
The Cathedral City Police Department unveiled a Memorial Plaza named “The Protector” in December 2018 to honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty. The area features benches inscribed with the names of two officers who lost their lives in the line of duty over the city’s history, Gibson and David Vasquez.
The statue at the center of the plaza features an officer holding the hand of Jermaine Gibson, Jr.
The suspect in the stolen vehicle, Durjan Germaine Gray, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2016. Gray was also found guilty of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter, felony evading and DUI, and was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. In August 2018, an appeals court upheld his murder conviction.
