Friends launch fundraiser for Chapel Hill police officer killed in Chatham Co. crash
An online campaign is raising money for the family of a longtime Chapel Hill police officer who died in a car crash in Chatham County.
Chapel Hill Police Officer Mike Mineer, 55, had served for 19 years with the Chapel Hill Police Department before his death on Monday, Police Chief Celisa Lehew announced Tuesday on social media.
His most recent position was with the patrol division, Lehew said in the post. He also had worked with the department’s investigations division, and was a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving from 1987 to 1991, including as a military police officer.
He was planning to retire from law enforcement in August, according to Johnny Thomas, who created the GoFundMe page for Mineer’s family. Thomas noted that Mineer also was a volunteer with the Rising Pros Training AAU basketball program.
“Mike was a dedicated family man and a caring colleague. Our thoughts are with his family and friends — including his CHPD family — in this difficult time. We are doing all that we can to lift them up, and we ask that everyone give them the space they need to grieve,” Lehew said.
Mineer lived in Bear Creek with his partner Jamelle Emerson and her 15-year-old son, who Mineer also raised as his son, Chapel Hill Town Manager Chris Blue confirmed Tuesday. Blue also got to know Mineer outside of work as a family man and runner.
Mineer joined him and other friends several times over the years for relay races in South Carolina and Kentucky, Blue said.
As a Kentucky native, “he had so much fun showing Kentucky off to us as we were running through the countryside,” Blue said.
Mineer was killed while driving Monday afternoon on U.S. 421 in Chatham County, N.C. Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Christopher Knox said in an email.
Mineer failed to reduce speed for a log truck that had stopped in the travel lane because of traffic, Knox said. The sport-utility vehicle that Mineer was driving hit the log truck around 3:39 p.m.
Mineer was pronounced dead at the scene, Knox said.
In their last two text exchanges, Blue said, Mineer spoke about how well Emerson was doing and asked him to make a donation to their son’s basketball fundraiser. Mineer was not the boy’s father but treated him like his son, Blue said.
The police department’s crisis team has reached out to the family, he said.
“It was certainly a loss for the law enforcement family in North Carolina and in Chapel Hill particularly, but also just an unbelievably nice guy, and my heart breaks for his family,” Blue said.
The is a developing story and will be updated.
This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 10:32 AM.
