Family, Friends Pay Final Respects To Fallen Corrections Officer
UPDATED 07/26/12 6 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of mourners gathered Thursday morning to say goodbye to a wife, mother and Cook County correctional officer who was hit and killed by a speeding van last week.
Nikki Bostic-Jones, 38, was killed on Wednesday, July 18, by a hit-and-run driver, as she crossed the street to go to work.
Hundreds of officers attended the memorial service for Bostic-Jones, of Plainfield, on Thursday moring at the United Baptist Church, 4242 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Law enforcement came all the way from Pennsylvania, California, Mississippi and South Dakota.
Bostic-Jones' family walked in to the church, then one by one, officers dressed in their uniforms, walked into the funeral service. When the hearse arrived the crowd saluted Officer Bostic Jones.
She was a Cook County corrections officer for 13 years.
She won't just be missed by her colleagues. The head of the 100 Club said he found that out when he visited the lockup just after the officer's death.
"Even the inmates thought very highly of her because she was kind," executive director Joe Ahern said.
Bostic-Jones was on her way across California Avenue to work late on the night July 18, when a van hit her and fled. She later died at Mount Sinai Hospital.
The man police say was the driver of the van – Juan Bello, 57, of the 2900 block of West 25th Street – was charged with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident involving a death.
Prosecutors say Bello had been drinking when he ran over Bostic-Jones.
Bostic-Jones leaves behind her 6-year-old daughter, Nikkea, and her husband of years, James Raye Jones.
The 100 Club is awarding the family $50,000 because she died while on the job. The organization also will help pay for the daughter's college education.
The officer also leaves behind so many friends and co-workers who say they will cherish the time they had with her.
"She kind of took me under her wing when I was a rookie, you know, I got to enjoy the time I did spend working in the Sheriff's Department. She gave us good advice – all rookies – and… she was a big-hearted person," said North Chicago police Officer Gary Grayer.
After leaving the church, the funeral procession was set to stop at 29th Street and California Avenue, outside the jail. The hearse was to stop for 10 seconds so that employees lined up on the street could pay their respects.
Bostic-Jones was to be buried at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip.
