Duty Death: Jude Williams Lewis - [New Orleans]
End of Service: 08/11/2016
By Police1 Staff
NEW ORLEANS — An officer who survived a crash over 15 years ago succumbed to complications from the injuries on Nov. 8.
Officer Jude Williams Lewis lost control of his patrol car while pursuing a suspect on June 1, 2001, WDSU reported. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for six months.
“The day that the crash happened it was devastating for the entire family,” Lewis’ sister, Denise Lewis-Crawford, told the news station.
Lewis was immobile and couldn’t speak after the accident.
“It’s like there’s no coming back from this point because at first when he was in a coma for six months of course we sat and we waited and prayed,” Lewis-Crawford said.
The Army veteran was laid to rest with full police and military honors today. Relatives call him a protector @wdsu pic.twitter.com/B0NPDRZTb3
— Casey Ferrand (@CaseyFerrand) November 16, 2016
Lewis joined the NOPD in 1998 after serving in Desert Storm and the Army National Guard Reserve.
“When we sign up for this, we’re not signing up for a job,” NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison said. “Although it’s a great career, it really is a calling because somewhere in the back of your mind you’re accepting that I am going to serve others, I’m going to serve people that I don’t know at the risk of possibly being injured and at the risk of possibly even death.”