By Tim Troglen
Hudson Hub-Times
HUDSON " The same band of brothers and sisters who Boston Heights Police Officer Jarod M. Dean relied on in life, began gathering shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary Church to escort him on his final journey from Hudson to Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.
With temperatures in the 20s and a light snow coating the ground, officers from across Ohio and as far away as New York began arriving at the church to honor one of their fallen.
"It's never a good day for a police officer's funeral," said Twinsburg Police Officer Tom Austin, who, along with his department was helping with the day's traffic detail.
Officer Dean, 24, of Hudson, was picking up debris on S.R. 8 when he was struck and killed by a truck around 5:30 a.m. Jan. 19.
He had worked as a part-time officer in Boston Heights for six month. He previously worked for two years as a Windham police officer.
The Summit County Sheriff's Department Mounted Patrol Unit, a Cleveland pipe and drum corps, and honor guards from police departments across Ohio were among the estimated 500 officers who came to honor Officer Dean.
Peter Tobin, the superintendent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray were among those in attendance.
Tobin said he has been in law enforcement for 35 years. "And I've been to 50 plus police funerals throughout the state, and it never gets easy. We have a tradition of giving our boys and women good send-off when something bad happens and we try to wrap our arms around the family and take the best care of them that we can."
Just after 11:15, Officer Dean's body arrived, accompanied by a motorcade of police cars from Hudson, Windham, Waynesburg, Magnolia and Boston Heights.
The casket was slowly carried from the hearse to the church by a contingent of officers, marching in time to the pipe and drum corps as the sea of uniformed officers solemnly saluted and watched as the family followed their loved one for his funeral Mass.
Boston Heights Mayor Bill Goncy told Officer Dean's family, which includes his brother John, a Hudson police officer, that "the hearts of an entire community mourn this devastating loss."
John Dean told the mourners that his brother "loved being a police officer."
"He strove to do it so well and so honorably," he said. "I can only hope that I can meet his standards."
Boston Heights Police Chief Joseph VargaVarga said these words to his fallen officer. "You will not be forgotten," he said. "Rest easy young man, we will assume your watch."
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