NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Family, friends and co-workers paid their respects Monday morning to fallen Officer Natasha Hunter.
The 11-year NOPD veteran was struck by a suspected drunk driver last Sunday (June 5) while covering a multi-car crash on Interstate 10 near Esplanade Avenue.
Hunter died two days later from her injuries.
She leaves behind her 5-year-old daughter, Jasmine.
“She was kind. She was giving. She was a beautiful person,” said friend Marion Caldwell. “It was hard to gather. Really unbelievable. Even when I heard it, I was like I don’t believe it. It’s not true.”
A funeral was held for the 32-year-old at the Greater St. Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church.
Hunter will be buried at Providence Park Cemetery in Metairie.
“It was important for me to come out this morning to pay my respects to Officer Hunter because of all the work they’re doing for our city to protect us,” said New Orleans East resident Debra Battiste.
“With a 5-year-old daughter on top of that, your heart cries,” said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand. “What you think is routine working a traffic accident. There’s nothing routine in this business anymore when you think about the carelessness and stupidity of what people do to place people’s lives at risk.”
33-year-old Chau Thai Nguyen is accused of ignoring warning lights when he plowed into Hunter’s police unit.
NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison said Nguyen had alcohol on his breath and later admitted he had been drinking.
Nguyen has been booked on a vehicular homicide charge.