Slain Jersey City officer laid to rest

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Hundreds of police officers stood outside as the casket bearing the body of a police officer slain in the line of duty arrived at a church in Jersey City on Friday for his funeral.

Rookie Officer Melvin Santiago was killed early Sunday in what authorities have described as an ambush by an armed man who waited for police at a 24-hour drugstore.

A hearse carrying the coffin arrived at St. Aloysius Catholic Church passed hundreds of police officers lined up on the surrounding streets.

Gov. Chris Christie and former Gov. Jim McGreevey were among the mourners.

Santiago was one of two New Jersey police officers to die in the line of duty this week. On Thursday, Waldwick Officer Christopher Goodell was killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into the back of his unmarked car as he was monitoring speeders on Route 17.

Their deaths underscored the peril faced by officers everywhere, whether in gritty urban areas or sleepy suburban towns.

Goodell, 32, grew up in Waldwick, the type of community where people often return after graduating from college and people who move there as adults wind up staying, several residents said. He had served in the Marine Corps and had been on the police force for five years, and had been active in programs at the local high school.

Police officers "face dangers every single day," Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said Thursday. "We saw what happened in Jersey City. We saw what happened to a Bergen County police officer a couple of months ago. Danger faces these police officers at any moment."

Santiago's killer, 27-year-old Lawrence Campbell, was fatally shot when police returned fire early Sunday in front of a 24-hour drug store. A sidewalk memorial to Campbell near his home prompted denunciations by Mayor Steven Fulop and Police Director James Shea. Fulop ordered the memorial taken down this week.

Ryon Cumberbatch, of New York, the driver of the truck that struck Goodell's car, was charged with vehicular homicide Thursday and was being held on $25,000 bail. Molinelli said there was no evidence Cumberbatch tried to stop before the collision.

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