Fallen Bibb deputy T.J. Freeman is honored with two memorials

Nearly a year after he was killed in the line of duty, a black plaque emblazoned with Deputy T.J. Freeman’s name was unveiled Wednesday afternoon in the lobby of the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center.

The plaque is among the seven others that bear the names of deputies who also made the ultimate sacrifice.

Freeman, 29, was killed in a car crash May 5, 2016, while pursuing a suspect in Macon’s Unionville neighborhood. The suspect’s car slammed into the driver’s side of Freeman’s patrol car, sending him and his K-9 partner, Bojar, spinning into the brick porch of a house near Grosso Avenue.

He died in an emergency room.

Freeman’s name also was added to the more than 700 names on the Georgia Law Enforcement Moving Memorial, which includes all the names of fallen law enforcement officers in the state since the 1700s.

Under the afternoon sun in the parking lot behind the center on Wednesday, his wife, Jessica, and their two children, Blaiklyn and Braden, helped remove the tape covering Freeman’s name on the giant mobile memorial.

The trailer belongs to the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club’s Georgia Chapter 7 and it travels all over the state.

Nine law enforcement officers were killed in Georgia in 2016.

Jessica Freeman, though, is sure her husband won’t be forgotten.

“If you ever met him, he’s unforgettable,” she said. “He’s just up there celebrating right now because everybody’s focused on him ... He was a great guy and he was a great officer. Nobody’s going to remember him like we do, but I’m glad that people remember him for the kind of officer he was.”

Dozens packed inside the lobby of the Law Enforcement Center on Oglethorpe Street for the unveiling of the plaque.

“Anyone coming into the LEC will know we honor those deputies that have fallen here,” Sheriff David Davis said. “We will honor their legacy and we will honor their memory.”

The memorials for Freeman were unveiled just a month shy of National Law Enforcement week.

“Jessica and a lot of the individuals who worked with T.J. will be going” to Washington, D.C., to take part in the week’s events, the sheriff said.

Freeman started his career at the Macon Police Department in 2009 before moving to the sheriff’s office as part of the consolidation in 2013.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Fallen Bibb deputy T.J. Freeman is honored with two memorials."