Name of fallen CMPD Officer Mia Goodwin could appear on I-85 bridge in Charlotte
A bridge named in honor of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who was killed on duty last year is one step closer to reality.
Charlotte City Council unanimously voted Monday on a resolution “in support of” the N.C. Department of Transportation designating a bridge the Officer Mia Goodwin Memorial Bridge.
NCDOT is working with the city to obtain the documents needed to submit a request to the Road, Bridge and Ferry Naming Committee, department spokesperson Jen Thompson said in an email to The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday.
“If that committee approves the application, it will move forward for consideration by the Board of Transportation at a later date,” she said.
Goodwin was killed Dec. 22, 2021, on Interstate 85 when two semi-trucks collided with each other, then crashed into several CMPD vehicles that were on scene assisting with traffic after an earlier wreck, the Observer previously reported. She was 33 and a six-year veteran of CMPD.
Dozens of officers in attendance stood in applause after the council voted.
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The bridge at the intersection of West W.T. Harris Boulevard and I-85 is near where Goodwin was killed.
Goodwin had just returned to duty from maternity leave when she was killed. She and her firefighter husband, Brenton Goodwin, had three children: Gabriella, Greyson and Gia.
Goodwin is the first female CMPD officer to die in the line of duty, according to the proposed resolution.
“Officer Goodwin served Charlotte and the police department with dignity, honor and joy and stood as a nightly guardian of the city and influenced many lives with her kindness and professionalism,” the resolution says.
Two GoFundMe pages have raised more than $340,000 combined for Goodwin’s family.
Earlier this year, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation paid the Goodwin family’s mortgage. The foundation is a nonprofit created in honor of New York firefighter Stephen Siller who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Staff writer Genna Contino contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 2:20 PM.
