A part of the annual South Jacksonville Village Celebration that has also recently served as a memorial for a South Jacksonville police officer killed in the line of duty will be discussed tonight at Village Hall.
The South Jacksonville Board of Trustees will meet this evening in a Committee of the Whole setting, with the main topic of conversation being the South Jacksonville Village Celebration 5k run which has served as a memorial for Scot Fitzgerald since he died in March of 2016.
Stacy Pinkerton is a Village Trustee and the Chairperson of the board’s Parks and Tourism committee. Pinkerton explains why this evening meeting is necessary.
“There’s been some misunderstanding on whether or not Dani Fitzgerald and her children will be receiving this raised money. We were not aware that she was promised this money until we were informed by Dani.”
Pinkerton describes some of the confusion in regards to this situation.
“She has been promised this money by the Police Chief, who was Joshua Hallock at the time, and the Village Fire Chief. Shortly after Scot passed away, the chiefs forfeited these proceeds to the children. There’s questions as to whether or not we can still give them this money.”
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to ‘Remembering All of Law Enforcement’s Heroes’ by preserving the stories of law enforcement personnel whose lives were taken in the line of duty, “Police Officer Scot Fitzgerald was killed when his patrol car and an ambulance collided while en route to a medical call shortly before 9:00 pm on Friday, March 4th, 2016. The ambulance was driving behind his patrol on Route 267, approximately one mile north of Nortonville Road, as they attempted to locate the address for the call. Officer Fitzgerald pulled to the right shoulder and then attempted to make a U-turn, but pulled into the path of the ambulance. He and the three EMTs in the ambulance were transported to area hospitals. Officer Fitzgerald succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Officer Fitzgerald had served with the South Jacksonville Police Department for 17 months.”
https://www.odmp.org/officer/22796-police-officer-scot-fitzgerald
The South Jacksonville Village Hall is located at 301 Dewey Drive, across the street from South Elementary School.