Fundraiser Held In Waldwick For Police Officer Christopher Goodell Scholarship Fund
WALDWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A PBA chapter in Waldwick, N.J. held an event on Saturday to raise funds to benefit the Police Officer Christopher Goodell Scholarship Fund.
"We miss him a lot here and this is a way we kind of hold a piece of him here," said Waldwick Police Sgt. Troy Seifert.
Seifert is heading up the sale of T-shirts to kickstart a memorial scholarship being set up in Goodell's name, printing up 2,000 shirts which could generate up to $30,000, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
"We're just trying to raise as much as we can to start to fund the scholarship as much as we can," Seifert added.
On Saturday the small community once again banded together much like it did in the days following the deadly crash that took Goodell's life.
"He was part of the community. He grew up here," said Seifert.
Officer Goodell died on July 17 after a tractor-trailer barreled into his unmarked police car as he sat on the shoulder of the southbound side of Route 17 near Bergen Avenue with a radar gun.
The truck driver, 28-year-old Ryon Cumberbatch, of Brooklyn, was charged with vehicular homicide following the crash.
Fundraiser Held In Waldwick For Police Officer Christopher Goodell Scholarship Fund
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said the crash happened entirely on the shoulder of the road, and there is no evidence that Cumberbatch tried to brake before impact.
Seifert said the department is still struggling with the loss, but not shying away from its duty, Smith reported.
"I don't think he would have wanted us to. The guys are still out there doing their jobs, the best they can," he said. "He wouldn't want us to do that."
Goodell is the first Waldwick police officer to die in the line of duty.
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