Eugene Police Department honors local and fallen officers nationwide during National Police Week May 12-18, 2024.
Eugene Police Department is remembering all fallen officers, and especially Officer Chris Kilcullen, Officer Oscar Duley, and Officer Jesse Jennings Jackson. By remembering them each year, we honor them for their exemplary service and the ultimate sacrifice they and their families made for our community.
National Police Week 2024 is May 12 through May 18. This is a time when our country memorializes law enforcement personnel who died in the line of duty. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, DC to participate in a number of planned events which honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice. There is a National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in Washington DC to raise awareness about those officers who have died in the line of duty.
Eugene Police Department Fallen Officers
Officer Chris Kilcullen, 43, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on I-105 and 52nd Street in Springfield, Oregon on Friday, April 22, 2011. Officer Kilcullen had initiated a traffic stop of a reckless driver, who ran a red light. The driver, age 56, fled and Officer Kilcullen pursued her into Springfield on Highway 126. The vehicle swerved around several cars that were waiting at a red light at 52nd Street. The suspect’s vehicle was stopped and as Officer Kilcullen approached the vehicle, he was hit when the suspect suddenly fired a handgun, fatally wounding him. The suspect continued to flee and was pursued by numerous local officers for 35 miles to a forest road near Westfir, where she finally stopped. She remained in her car for several hours during a standoff until finally being taken into custody.
Officer Kilcullen, a 12-year veteran, had a remarkable career with 85 commendations, even from drivers he stopped. He won employee of the month awards in May 2004 and June 2008 after conducting the most investigations, arrests, traffic citations and field interviews among Eugene police officers. He moved to the traffic unit in 2005 and was a longtime member of the department’s crisis negotiation team, saving many lives. Officer Kilcullen left behind a wife, two children, a cousin who was like a sister, sister Colby, brother Cory, his father, John Kilcullen, and step mother Sherrie, many friends and coworkers, and a community that loved him.
The entire length of OR 126 (Eugene-Springfield Hwy), from the intersection with 6th and 7th Streets in Eugene to the intersection with East Main Street in Springfield, has been officially named in honor of Eugene Police Officer Chris Kilcullen. Senate Bill 987, approved in May 2011 by the Oregon Legislature, directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to place markers along the highway with the memorial designation. A total of four signs are now located at each end of the highway, and where travel from I-5 joins the highway in each direction.
Officer Jesse Jennings Jackson, 35, was killed in a car crash during pursuit of a reckless driver on Saturday, June 2, 1934. Officer Jesse Jennings Jackson and Patrolman Clarence Quinn were pursuing a reckless driver on June 2. Officer Quinn was driving, and Officer Jackson was a passenger, when the car they were following suddenly swerved. Officer Quinn attempted to avoid a head-on collision and the police car plunged into the mill race. Officer Quinn survived the crash and Officer Jackson died at the scene. The suspects in this case, both age 22, were arrested on June 6 after an investigation.
Officer Jesse Jennings Jackson was born in Rola, Missouri, on July 2, 1898, living in that city until he was 16-years-old. He attended the Philadelphia State Electric and Steam Engineering School and upon his graduation, he joined the engineering service of the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy he made 15 trips across the Atlantic, being given a commission before his discharge at Vallejo, California in 1920. He went to Portland to become engineer for the Northwest Electric Company, remaining there 10 years. In 1930, he came to Eugene to be an engineer for the University of Oregon. He had been a police officer for the City during the past year. Jackson left a widow, Blanche Jackson, and one daughter, Francelle, age 8.
Officer Oscar Duley, 35, was shot by a bootlegger hiding in ambush while assisting Lane County Sheriff’s Office during a liquor raid in Marcola on August 28, 1930. Officer Duley had been stationed to wait for some young men who were said to be expecting a delivery of liquor. One, age 28, arrived and Officer Duley placed him under arrest and put him in a car. The suspect’s father, age 68, who had been hiding nearby opened fire, hitting Officer Duley. The two suspects fled. Officer Duley was taken to a hospital where he died shortly before 3 a.m. on August 29. A search began with a posse of than 100 deputy sheriffs, national guardsmen and residents of Marcola. There was a second shootout on August 29, at the old store building where the shooting suspect lived, during which Oregon Game Commission’s Deputy Game Warden Joseph Saunders of Hillsboro was killed and two others, a deputy game warden and a sheriff’s deputy, were wounded. The 28-year-old bootlegger was captured at his home in bed. On November 25, 1930, the suspect in the shootings was located by six Lane County deputy sheriffs in a highly forested area near Westfir. The suspect opened fire and was shot and killed.
Officer Duley used to live at 531 Monroe Street with his wife Jacyln (there was a house there at the time). He was a famed local athlete and was known as Duley the Wrestling Cop. He was scheduled to wrestle an opponent at the Lane County Fair the night he died.
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