By J.D. Gallop, Florida Today
Merritt Island, Florida -- Hundreds of police officers, friends and family turned out Wednesday afternoon to say a final goodbye to Lucille Ross, a sheriff’s crime scene investigator who was killed last week in an auto accident.
The hour-long funeral service for the 51-year-old law enforcement officer was held at First Baptist Church of Merritt Island and featured statements from Sheriff Phil Williams and other co-workers. The 30-minute funeral procession had patrol cars from across the state and closed off traffic along U.S.1.
Investigators said Ross died Friday night as she was driving to the scene of an apparent suicide on Merritt Island when the vehicle she was driving collided with the rear of a tractor-trailer in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95, sheriff officials said.
Ross was the first Brevard sheriff’s officer to die in the line of duty since 1996. The New York native started working in law enforcement as a records clerk and a part-time police officer in 1975 with the Altamonte Springs Police Department.
Ross joined the sheriff’s office in 1999.
“She will never be forgotten and she can never be replaced,” Williams told the audience during the funeral service. “We love her.”