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Just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 15, Officer Jason Quick was dispatched to a traffic accident on I-95 Northbound near Exit 22.
Right before 7 a.m., Officer Quick was struck by a car, authorities said.
"It is tough," said Lumberton Deputy Police Chief Tommy Barnes. "That's the hardest part. That's the hardest part. This isn't the first time that we've had to bury one of our officers, and it's the hardest thing in 31 years that I've had to do. I didn't think I'd have to go through it twice. When we buried Jeremiah Goodson in 2012, I thought that was the last one and I was hoping and praying ... before the next one, and it just didn't work out like that."
Kadejera Inman, 24, of Fairmont has been identified as the driver who struck the officer.
Officer Quick was transported to Southeastern Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries.
"Jason was very selfless," Barnes said. "There was a time where Jason had put in to take time off. It was time that was approved, and because his squad was short ... someone had called in sick, instead of him taking the time off that had been approved, he chose to come in. He said that he could not relax, he couldn't be happy knowing he was off and his squad was short. His people were having to work harder."
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Gertrude Carter cared for Quick when he was a child.
"It's a shock, really a shock," she said. "It's going to take a while. It's going to take a while, but we'll be all right."
Carter said Quick enjoyed being a police officer.
"He was thrilled," she said. "He really wanted to be in it, and all the reports I get, he did a good, good job."
Sandra Locklear, a family friend, said it's a tragic loss for the community.
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"He was well-known to the church circle, as well as to the social circle, so it's a big loss and it's going to be felt for some time," Locklear said. "He has a family and young children, a mom and a dad and grandmothers and just families that are so distraught because of everything that's going on. They didn't expect this. And it's here at Christmas, too.
"He's going to be greatly missed," she added.
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