Law enforcement officials from across the city gathered on Wednesday to remember Philadelphia Police Department Sergeant Jaime Roman on the anniversary of his untimely death.
During the day, police held a ceremony to remember the 31-year-old Roman, who was killed after he was shot by a fleeing suspect in an incident that happened last year.
Among those in attendance were Roman’s family, the police force’s top brass and many of the men and women who served with Roman on the force.
“It’s been very hard,” his wife Jazmin Hernandez said. “His death did not go in vain.”
Prior to the tragic shooting that took Roman’s life, he served on the force for seven years, working in the streets of Kensington – the same community where he grew up.
It was also in Kensington where Roman would suffer the shooting injury that would take his life.
He was shot following a confrontation with a driver after finding a gun holster in a vehicle. That driver, later identified as Ramon Rodriguez-Vázquez, fired at Roman as he fled the scene.
Roman was struck in the neck and died in the hospital about three months after the shooting occurred.
“It’s very emotional because these times bring back the moment of the actual incident when it happened. So, it becomes very emotional for everyone involved, mainly the family,” said Roosevelt Poplar, president of the Philadelphia police officer’s union, FOP Lodge 5. “We don’t want them to keep reliving this moment but, we do want them to know that they will never be forgotten.”
Sergeant Roman left behind a wife and two children, including a 7-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son who bears his name.
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