San Diego’s Park and Recreation Board unanimously approved a request from City Heights residents to name a portion of their community park in memory of fallen police officer Jeremy Henwood.
Henwood was shot and killed in his patrol car on University Avenue Aug. 6, 2011, by Dejon Marquee White, who was later killed in a standoff with police.
Henwood caught the nation's attention after surveillance footage from a City Heights McDonald's showed him sharing cookies and kind words with 13-year-old Daveon Scott moments before his death.
Henwood was a decorated Marine Corps Reserves captain who served three tours of duty. City Heights Town Council Co-chair Guy Mock said Henwood’s service in Iraq and Afghanistan made the loss especially difficult.
“I’m a veteran, so for me it’s hard to come to the reality that this guy would come back to the states and be in his car, doing his job and that’s where he’d be ‘buying the farm,’” Mock said, drawing on an old saying that refers to a soldier whose death benefits could pay off his family’s mortgage.
“It’s amazing that he survived so much and it was here that it happened,” Mock said. “That’s a tough thing, so we want to let everyone know we respect him. We respect what he did.”
A grassy area about a block south of the McDonald’s where Henwood made his final act of kindness will be named The Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park. It sits across the street from the police substation where he worked and is the site where hundreds lit candles in his honor following his death.
Mock said the community will unveil a sign and host a naming event in the coming months.
