Blood Drive Planned in Memory of Dead Policeman

Updated: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 6:34 p.m.

The DeKalb County Police Department is holding a blood drive in memory of Detective Shane Wilson, killed last year on I-20 while responding to a call. 

The drive for donors takes place on Tuesday, Sep. 4 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fire & Rescue Headquarters, 1950 West Exchange Place in Tucker.

Wilson, 27, was responding to a home invasion call last November when he was killed by a suspected drunk driver headed in the wrong direction, according to Doraville police.

The blood drive is not connected to the controversy that erupted in May when Wilson's name was left off a state public safety memorial, according to DeKalb Police spokeswoman Mekka Parish. "We are not associated with that memorial at all," she told Patch during a phone call. "We are honoring Detective Wilson because he was one of us. That memorial is separate." She added that Wilson's mother had also been a member of the DeKalb Police force.  

"I don't see how people could be that heartless," Wilson's widow Katy told WSB-TV at the time. The family was preparing to attend a state memorial ceremony for fallen officers in Forsyth County when they discovered the detective's name was being omitted. The deciding committee said he wasn't technically on duty at the time of his death.

"The support is wonderful we've been getting and when you feel like you've been shut out of that, it's disturbing," said Gayle Hanson, Wilson's mother. 

The Georgia Public Safety Training Center issued a statement saying "new information" had emerged and that the committee will reconsider whether to add Wilson's name to the memorial next year.

The family is also upset that the other driver, Gene Jones, 39, was released on bond of $265,000 shortly after being charged with DUI, vehicular homicide and driving on the wrong side of the road. "He's had too many chances. And now he gets to go home and gets to see his family and I never get to see my husband again," Katy Wilson told WSB-TV.

The Wilsons had been married for only two months and were the parents of a six-year-old boy.

This article was updated from an earlier version to reflect comments made by Mekka Parish.