Respect and honor radiated in a procession and funeral Friday for Broward Sheriff's Office Battalion Chief Terryson Jackson, the flight medic who was killed in a helicopter crash last week.
Loved ones, friends, law enforcement, colleagues and people from the community gathered for the procession from L.C. Poitier Funeral Home in Pompano Beach to the Faith Center in Sunrise. Family members traveled from the Tampa area and elsewhere to attend Jackson's memorial.
“He was not merely a firefighter," said his sister, Dr. Sanjie Jackson. "He was a pillar of strength for our close-knit family, we are proud and will continue to have great pride for the years and decades to come.”
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Jackson served as a medic onboard Broward's Fire Rescue helicopter that slammed into a Pompano Beach apartment building the morning of Aug. 28. Lurean Wheaton, 65, was inside her residence when she was killed.
Jackson and two other rescuers on board were on their way to help save a mother and her four-year-old son who had been struck by a car on their way to preschool in North Lauderdale.
The two other firefighters on board, including pilot Daron Roche, survived. Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony fought back tears as he recognized the pilot.
“Terryson loved you, he believed in you," Tony said. "Nobody spent more time in this profession on a daily basis than you had with him. He has 100% confidence in you.”
“Terry loved what he did. He knew the risk and he did it anyhow," said BSO Sgt. Cleavone Brooks. "That makes him a true hero, before he was a hero to us, he was just my big brother. Someone I grew up with and at that time he was still my role model.”
The memorial began with all of the honors due to a battalion chief killed in the line of duty. His body was carried to the ceremony in a fire truck, and an enormous American flag flew as bucket trucks offered a double salute.
“You may be gone, you may be absent, but you will always be in my mind, my heart and I will speak of you proudly," Brooks said.
Jackson's father, Oliver Jackson, remembered his son with pride, saying "he died doing what he loved to do... it was his passion, it was his heart and his desire."
“We’ve lost a tremendous man, a great man," Oliver Jackson said at the funeral. "As his dad, that is why I say I feel weak."
As the ceremony moved outside, more honors were on display, as well as a helicopter flyover. A final radio transmission signaled Jackson’s death in the line of duty.
Terryson Jackson served as a rescuer for 19 years. The Broward Sheriff promoted him to Battalion Chief upon his death. He leaves behind a daughter and an extended family.
Following the crash, Tony grounded the three other helicopters in the fleet, pending inspections. On Thursday, commissioners approved a budget that includes $15 million to replace the chopper involved in the crash.
