Community Corner

(Updated) Funeral in Cascade Heights Monday for Veteran Police Officer Gail Thomas

Elizabeth Baptist on Cascade Road is the location of the wake today for the senior officer, struck and killed by a drunk driver on the I-75/I-85 Brookhaven exchange last week.

 

The funeral service for Senior Police Officer Gail Thomas is set for 11 a.m. Mon., Jan. 30  at Elizabeth Baptist Church, 4245 Cascade Road, according to the Atlanta Police Department. The burial will follow at Mount Harmony Cemetery on Veterans Memorial Parkway in Mableton.

On Sunday, members of the Atlanta Police Honor Guard received a flag that flew at Ground Zero in New York City at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as part of a tribute ceremony in honor of the fallen officer. The viewing was at Murray Brothers Funeral Home, at Utoy Springs and Cascade Roads.

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The APD said Saturday that a trust fund has been set up for Thomas' daughter. Donations can be made at any Bank of America in the name of "Senior Police Officer Gail Thomas' Daughter's Trust." Meanwhile, at least one Atlanta area organization and restaurant, The Humble Heroes and Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q, has announced a benefit for Thomas' family on Wednesday.

Law enforcement officers and friends also held a vigil Sunday night outside the family home in Austell Sunday night, according to a story and photo gallery in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Thomas, a 20-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, was struck and killed by a drunk driver on the I-75/I-85 Brookhaven last Tuesday evening.

Chasity Jones, 22, of Stone Mountain, was arrested that evening in connection with the fatal incident, according to Fulton County Sheriff's spokesperson Tracy Flanagan.

Jones' current charges are DUI, homicide by vehicle and failure to yield to person authorized to direct traffic. Authorities said Jones’ had a blood-alcohol content of .16—more than twice the legal limit—when she was arrested.


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