LUMBERTON — People who worked with Jason Quick say he chose the job because he wanted to be a role model, especially to his family.
His colleagues on the Lumberton Police Department say they quickly recognized his desire to excel and his strong work ethic. Quick, 31, died Saturday after being struck by a vehicle while working an accident scene on Interstate 95.
He leaves behind a wife, Leah, and two children, Jaden and Madison, with whom he would often FaceTime with on his cell phone before they went to bed on the nights Quick worked late, according to William Cummings, a fellow police officer.
“I just remember how humble he was,” Cummings said. “He was very sincere about his actions, his thoughts, his words with people, how he wanted to live his life for his kids and his wife.”
Their designated patrol areas were close, so they were always in contact with each other.
“If I wasn’t tied up I went to his calls and vice versa, so we were always together,” Cummings said. “He never expected anyone to say thank you for anything he did because it was a part of his job. He was a simple man with high standards.”
Sgt. Steve Hardin, Quick’s immediate supervisor, said their relationship was not made distant by title or experience.
“I was his supervisor, but we were friends and I’m going to miss him greatly,” he said. “You spend as much time with those folks as you do your family and children. Working all night and during the holidays you become a family and losing someone like that is like losing a member of your family.”
He said Quick had really good instincts for the job and wanted to be the best at it.
“Some people think it’s (job) a desire for a paycheck,” Hardin said. “He had a desire to protect people. Unfortunately that’s kind of rare, especially for some of the younger officers.”
John Scott, a North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper, is related to Quick through marriage.
He remembers the years Quick worked as a volunteer firefighter with the Raynham McDonald Volunteer Fire Department before becoming a police officer. Scott said he did it all for his wife and children.
His fellow officers say that Quick was there to go the extra mile, back up officers, help them with their reports and even work on his day off, which was the case on the day Quick lost his life.
“The morning this happened he wasn’t supposed to work,” Scott said.
An officer didn’t make it in and Quick decided to come in on his day off, Scott said.
“He said he didn’t want to leave those guys shorthanded,” Scott said. “He was really dedicated to his job.”
Quick was killed Saturday morning while working an accident at Exit 22 on I-95. He was struck by a vehicle being driven north by a Fairmont woman. The Highway Patrol said she was not at fault.
Tori Carter, who worked with Quick for several of the 18 months Quick was an officer, saw Quick’s dedication to the job.
“He was just dependable,” she said. “You didn’t have to worry about anything. He always looked out for his partner.”
As it is with her fellow officers, dealing with the loss has been difficult for Carter.
“You don’t have any words,” she said. “You go from sitting with him in the squad room, and we were 30 minutes from going home, and then seeing him out there. It’s hard.”
Cummings was backing up Quick at a vehicle accident when Quick was killed. The weight of the situation took a minute to sink in.
“At first I thought it was another car accident that happened,” Cummings said. “When my brain finally processed it I ran back to the car and let dispatch know my officer was down.”
He said Lumberton firefighters, already on the scene of the initial accident, quickly turned their focus to Quick and kept Cummings back.
“They wouldn’t let me get near him,” he said.
Cummings considers Quick a friend and a brother and remembers when they were on duty they would sometimes talk about the future. He said Quick was going to school to get his degree and wanted to lead a police department one day.
“He wanted to be chief someday,” Cummings said. “We’d refer to each other as car one and two. He’d be car one and I’d be car two, chief and deputy chief.”
Cumming hopes to keep Quick’s dream alive.
“I still love my job; still love what I do,” he said. “It’s just one of the things you hope and wish never happens. He wouldn’t want me to give up because we talked a lot about our future law enforcement careers.
“So, I’ll have to do it for him.”
Quick’s visitation will be Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Rock Church of God, located at 2209 West Carthage Road in Lumberton. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at the same church. The graveside service will take place after the church service at Gardens of Faith Cemetery, located at 5190 Fayetteville Road in Lumberton.
Quick is the first Lumberton officer killed in the line of duty since Jeremiah Goodson was shot to death on July 12, 2012. Marques Brown was sentenced to 27 years in prison earlier this year for second-degree murder in that case.
Quick is the eighth officer killed in the line of duty in North Carolina this year, the sixth in a vehicular accident.
