Relatives, fellow officers say goodbye to fallen Jeanerette policeman

PATTERSON -- Juandre Gilliam always wanted to be a policeman, even when he was the star quarterback for Jeanerette High, even when he could empty a room with his horn-playing in high school.

Gilliam, 22, didn’t get to be a policeman for long. He served with the Jeanerette department for just over a year and had completed his academy training in March.

But he might have enjoyed the send-off his family, the city governments of Jeanerette and Patterson, and police and fire agencies around the area gave him Saturday at the Patterson Civic Center.
Gilliam died Wednesday, the day after he tried to stop a Chevrolet Colorado in Jeanerette. Louisiana state police troopers said the driver of the Colorado wouldn’t stop, and during the pursuit, the Colorado and Gilliam’s Crown Victoria police cruiser hit each other. At some point, Gilliam ran off the road to the left and hit a culvert.

Gilliam was pronounced dead Wednesday at Iberia General Medical Center. Two men and a 16-year-old juvenile have been arrested in the case.
Inside the Patterson Civic Center on Saturday, mourners filled about 400 seats on the floor of the auditorium while relatives and friends read poems and shared memories about Gilliam.

Two walls of the auditorium were lined by uniformed police officers from all over south Louisiana, many wearing the black ribbon over their badges that signifies a fallen fellow officer.

The text for the eulogy was Jesus walking on the water.

Like the disciples, whom Jesus told to cross the Sea of Galilee while he stayed behind to pray, Gilliam was set apart from others by God and put in the middle of what seemed a bad situation, the eulogy said. But, as with the disciples to whom Jesus walked across the sea during a storm, Gilliam wasn’t abandoned.

Jeanerette Mayor Aprill Foulcard read a Board of Aldermen proclamation honoring Gilliam’s sacrifice.

Outside the service, police cars and firetrucks lined U.S. 90 in tribute. More were stationed at key intersections farther up U.S. 90, and others were visible here and there with emergency lights flashing almost all the way to Jeanerette.

The Patriot Guard Riders of Louisiana were on hand as Gilliam was taken to the Sorrell community cemetery.

Gilliam leaves behind a wife, Latoya Gilliam of Jeanerette; two sons, Juandre D. Gilliam Jr. and Dontarius Joseph; his mother, Lawanda Gabriel-Williams of Houston; two brothers, Denzel Gilliam and Zachary Tillman, both of Jeanerette; two sisters, Raquana Gilliam of Jeanerette and Laquandria Gilliam of Houston; his maternal and paternal grandparents, Emma Washington (Joseph) and Beulah Gilliam, all of Jeanerette.
Gilliam was preceded in death by his father, Redford Gilliam and his grandfather, Ollie Gilliam.

The story was written by Bill Decker of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at bdecker@daily-review.com.