Brownfield police dedicate scholarship fund to fallen officer

BROWNFIELD — Jeremy Shedd loved animals, his family and his future with the Brownfield Police Department.

A year and a half after he was killed in a traffic accident, the fallen officer's former coworkers couldn't forget his cheerful demeanor if they tried.

"You rarely ever saw him unhappy. He would always walk around with a smile on his face," said Sgt. Ramon Soliz, his supervisor.

Shedd, 27, was killed Nov. 2, 2014 on his early-morning commute home to Lubbock after working the night shift. A vehicle driven by Sergio Vazquez, 26, of Denver City crossed a median and hit him head-on. Investigators believe Vazquez, who also died in the crash, was intoxicated.

Now, the young officer's memory is the inspiration for the Jeremy Shedd Memorial Scholarship, created by the Brownfield Police Department for local high school students whose parents are first responders. Applicants list their achievements and community involvement and provide proof of college acceptance. The department is still gathering funds to support the scholarship.

"Brownfield's been so good about keeping his memory alive," said his mother, Debbie Shedd. "...That town really rallied behind us."

Bucking for Badges, a fundraising bull-riding tournament benefiting the scholarship fund, is June 25 at the Texas Tech Equestrian Center. The event will feature a family-friendly atmosphere and announcements of gratitude for area law enforcement officials, Police Chief Tony Serbantez said.

The chief has fond memories of working with Shedd, and less-than-happy ones of losing him.

"Jeremy Shedd was a great person," he said via email. "He was one of those people that you would not know if he was having a bad day. I felt that I owe it to him to be a better person than I am. We could have learned from him. He was very unselfish."

Shedd had been on the job about 10 months at the time of the crash, and was in the process of moving to Brownfield.

Before that, he graduated from Frenship High in 2006 and then worked for several years as a Lubbock County jailer, his mother, Debbie, recalled.

Shedd's friendly nature and respect for the inmates he supervised led them to respect him in turn. He liked working in corrections, but enrolled in the South Plains Association of Governments' law-enforcement program to follow his bigger goal of becoming a police officer.

But the job he landed in Brownfield offered more than a career. He soon also had a brotherhood of fellow officers, then an adopted hometown.

"There wasn't anything he wouldn't have done for them," Debbie Shedd said. "He wanted to be a police officer — I know it was only 10 months he got to do it, but it was the happiest we ever seen him."

Soliz, his supervisor, echoed the grieving mother's thoughts: "There wasn't nothin' you could ask him to do that he wouldn't do ... He really thought a lot of his family, his mom and dad, (but) he considered the PD his second family. He was just real easy-going and easy to get along with."

Then there were the dogs and cats. Animal rescue was one of Shedd's favorite parts of the job.

Debbie Shedd recalled through a teary smile his inclination to adopt them all: "Every time they'd pick up a stray, he'd call me and say, 'Mom, can I bring this one home?'"

josephine.musico@lubbockonline.com

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