‘I just feel for the family.’ Emergency vehicles escort CMPD officer to funeral home

The more Charlie Currence saw the face of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Mia Goodwin on the news, the more personal her death felt to him.

That’s why he walked down the street from his home to pay his respects at her processional Thursday afternoon.

“I just feel for that family,” Currence told the Observer. “They were my family even though I didn’t know them personally.”

Goodwin, 33, was killed on Interstate 85 in northeast Charlotte on Wednesday morning. Two semi-trucks collided with each other, then crashed into several CMPD vehicles that were on scene assisting with traffic after an earlier wreck.

Three officers also were injured.

Police on Thursday charged one of the truck drivers with involuntary manslaughter.

Currence said his daughter knew both Goodwin and her husband, Brenton, a Charlotte firefighter, which made this loss “a little closer to home.”

Thursday’s processional began at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s office on Reno Avenue in west Charlotte, then traveled down the Brookshire Freeway and Interstate 277, before ending at Alexander Funeral Home on Statesville Avenue.

Dozens of police vehicles, Medic ambulances and Charlotte firetrucks flashed their lights as they escorted the hearse to the funeral home.

Funeral arrangements for Goodwin have not been announced.

The local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police is accepting donations for her family, and two GoFundMe pages also have been set up for them.

“There’s no good time for a death,” Currence said. “I know that family is going to get support.”

Observer News Editor Rogelio Aranda contributed to this story.

This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 2:33 PM.