MEMPHIS, Tenn. – – Friends, family and colleagues honored Memphis police officer Corille “CJ” Jones during a Sea of Blue procession Wednesday night.
The 32-year-old was killed in the line of duty while answering a call last week. His patrol car collided with another vehicle near Shelby Drive and Pleasant Hill Road.
His brother, Joshua Freeman, described Jones as a family man who adored his two daughters.
“He loved his girls and he loved to be around the family,” Freeman said. “There wasn’t a family gathering that he wouldn’t pull up to.”
His cousin, Ramone Rogers, said Jones was one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet.
“He’s one of those guys who can walk in a room and turn a smile upside down in any type of way,” Rogers said. “If you mad, he gonna make you smile or if there’s anything to talk about he’s going to make sure that you’re uplifted.”
Jones joined the police department in 2020 and served with the Memphis Fire Department before that.
“He really wanted to make a difference in the city. He was one of those officers if he had to do it himself he would do it with no one else,” Rogers said. “That was what he wanted to do. He really did his job with a passion. If he could make a difference he was going to be the one to be that difference.”
Though he’s gone, family members say he won’t be forgotten.
“That’s somebody who can never be duplicated because, specifically, God made him who he was for a reason, a special blessing,” Freeman said. “Can’t nobody be Corille CJ Jones. That name was just made for him and you could see it.”
The driver of the car Jones collided with also died. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash.
Jones’ funeral will be held Thursday at Hope Church in Cordova. Wednesday’s Sea of Blue procession started at Hope Church and proceeded down Walnut Grove.