RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – A Rutland police officer killed in the line of duty last summer was honored Friday with a monument at a local park.
Officials dedicated a new memorial in honor of Ofc. Jessica Ebbighausen in a section of Justin Thomas Memorial Park.
Ebbighausen was a part-time officer who was killed in a crash last July while pursuing a home break-in suspect in Rutland. The 19-year-old had just joined the department and was about to attend the Police Academy.
“Jessica’s Corner” includes a flower bed with a poem, a park bench, and a toy police car for children to play on.
“It was Jessica’s dream to be a police officer. When she was a young child — about 11 years old — said ‘I want to be a police officer.’ She spent a lot of time here at the park and thought about those sorts of things. And more children for generations can now continue to do that,” said Rutland Police Chief Brian Kilcullen,
The city also held memorial services for Ebbighausen at City Hall.