By Jonathan Lin, The Jersey Journal
More than 50 Jersey City police officers as well as several officers from Kearny ventured out into the freezing cold last night to pay tribute to police officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen, who died tragically eight years ago on Christmas night at the bridge now named in their honor.
More than 50 Jersey City police officers ventured out into the freezing cold Dec. 25, 2013 to pay tribute to police officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen, who died tragically eight years ago on Christmas night at the bridge now named in their honor. Richard J. McCormack/For The Jersey Journal
“To me, this is not only a representation of the lives Nguyen and Carson lost, it’s a representation of all officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty,” said Jersey City Police Chief Robert Cowan. “To have people come and leave their families at home, it means a lot to me and my department.”
Carson and Nguyen were members of the Emergency Service Unit whose vehicle plunged into the Hackensack River from the Lincoln Highway Bridge on Dec. 25, 2005. The bridge was renamed in their honor in 2007.
Summoned to the Kearny side of the bridge for flares after a wooden arm to block traffic had broken, Carson and Nguyen were unaware the center portion of the drawbridge had been raised when they started to drive back to Jersey City and their vehicle plunged into the water below.
Last night, a long procession of police cars and trucks began closing off the eastbound side of the Lincoln Highway bridge linking Kearny and Jersey City at around 7:50 p.m., and a formation of officers assembled near the railing of the bridge by 8 p.m.
Read the full story by Jonathan Lin of the Jersey Journal.
