Union Co. sergeant to be remembered at Police Week ceremony

Sgt. Jeffrey Greene, the first member of the Union County Sheriff’s Office killed in the line of duty, will be remembered at a Police Week ceremony and candlelight vigil in Monroe Friday.

Greene, 54, died in November after a tractor-trailer hit a tanker truck on U.S. 74 in Monroe then toppled on top of Greene’s patrol car. Hundreds of people attended his funeral, where he was recalled as a hard-working law enforcement officer and a person who was always willing to help others.

Sheriff Eddie Cathey will be the main speaker at the ceremony Friday.

And Greene’s name is being engraved on the Union County Law Enforcement Memorial this week. The other names on the memorial are: John Pearce, Monroe police, 1888; Edgar Williams, Wingate police, 1917; and Richard Belk, Waxhaw police, 2010.

National Police Week actually runs next week, but local officials wanted to hold the Monroe ceremony Friday to ensure that Greene’s family members could attend.

They will also be in Washington, D.C., next week when Greene’s name will be among those added to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

This year, 273 names are being added to the memorial. That includes 117 officers who were killed last year as well as156 officers who were killed in prior years but whose deaths were not known until now.

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Union Co. sergeant to be remembered at Police Week ceremony."