Two days after Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer Lance C. Whitaker was killed in a single-vehicle crash near I-295 and Alta Drive, a procession of police officers and firefighters escorted his body from the morgue downtown to a funeral home in Riverside. Community members, colleagues, friends and family lined the route to honor the 17-year-veteran of the force.
Early Tuesday morning, Officer Whitaker lost control of his patrol car during heavy weather. He was transported to a hospital, but died soon after. Whitaker was at the time responding to another traffic crash.
“I’m going to watch a really close friend of mine on his last ride through Jacksonville,” Alicia Humfleet said Tuesday through tears.
She said that she wasn’t surprised that he died while on his way to help someone else.
“He would’ve given the shirt off his back for anybody. He loved his job and he loved everybody, no matter what,” she said.
Humfleet had been a close family friend with Whitaker for more than a decade. She said the friendship started an unlikely way — with a traffic warning. Humfleet’s mother, who 11 years ago had just moved to the area from California, was pulled over for rolling through a stop. Whitaker pulled her over and asked her if she just committed a “California stop.”
Humfleet said that’s how her family and Whitaker began their friendship: With a hearty laugh and a moving violation.
In a written statement Tuesday, Sheriff Mike Williams said he was “heartbroken” to hear about Whitaker’s passing and that it “highlights the grave dangers our men and women in blue face every day when they put
on their uniforms to keep us safe.”
“My heart goes out to all who knew him and to a community that lost a devoted public servant,” Williams wrote.
Since his passing, city residents have been leaving flowers, notes and other gifts of remembrance for Whitaker at the Fallen Officers Memorial downtown.
In an interview with our partner News4Jax, Whitaker’s fiancée Shannon Lien said she’s still processing his loss.
“I don’t know how I’m going to move forward,” she told News4Jax. “I don’t know how any of us are going to move forward. But I know that he’s with us. He’s in heaven watching all of us.”
Donations to the family can be made at any Vystar Credit Union location.
The schedule for Whitaker’s viewing, funeral, graveside service and another police vehicle procession is as follows:
· Viewing is Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018, from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Evangel Temple, 5755 Ramona Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32205
· Funeral services are Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. at Evangel Temple, 5755 Ramona Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32205.
· A graveside service will follow the church service at Oaklawn Cemetery, 4801 San Jose Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32207.
· A police vehicle procession will take place between the church service and graveside service.
