Hundreds of law enforcement officials, grieving family gather at wake for fallen Waltham officer
Services for the Waltham police officer who was killed in a hit-and-run crash last week begin Thursday afternoon with a wake that is being attended by hundreds of first responders and law enforcement officials from across the region.
WATCH LIVE: Hundreds gather outside Waltham church ahead of fallen officer's wake.
WATCH LIVE: Bus loads of law enforcement officials and grieving friends and family have gathered outside of a church in Waltham ahead of the wake for fallen Waltham Officer Paul Tracey.
Posted by Boston 25 News on Thursday, December 14, 2023
Paul Tracey, 58, of Waltham, was a 28-year-old veteran of the Waltham Police Department. Tracey lost his life when authorities say 54-year-old Peter Simon, of Woodsville, New Hampshire, crashed his pickup truck into a worksite on Totten Pond Road last week.
Tracey’s wake is being held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Church in Waltham.
Ahead of the ceremony, busloads of police officers, firefighters, and members of various agencies, as well as grieving friends and family, gathered outside to await an opportunity to pay their respects.
Powerful aerial video showed a sea of people in black and blue waiting outside the church as a massive American flag fluttered in the breeze overhead.
Shortly after 2 p.m., individual departments filed one-by-one into the church to honor Tracey’s life and service to the community.
Dozens of members of law enforcement, family, and friends will then gather on Friday, at 10 a.m., for a funeral mass at the same church.
Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell remembered Tracey as an “amazing” father and husband who served his department and the city with “great distinction.”
The crash also claimed the life of Roderick Jackson, a 36-year-old National Grid worker from Cambridge. His family remembered him as a “treasure chest,” “legend,” and the “most selfless man.”
The family of Jackson is planning on taking legal action and an attorney for the family says Simon, who is accused of driving into a worksite was a ‘’habitual offender and shouldn’t be driving in the first place.”
A public funeral for Roderick Jackson is planned for Saturday morning in Cambridge.
Waltham Public Schools will be closed on Friday.
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