A part of West Montgomery avenue will be renamed in remembrance of Temple police sergeant, Christopher Fitzgerald, who lost his life in the line of duty on February 18th.
Temple Officer Leory Wimberly started the petition to change the block name to pay respect to Sgt Fitzgerald, “When I first went to Senator Sharif I said you know I had a conversion with my captain and we wanna do something big, we’d like to rename a street after our officer that was taken from us, and he said you know what I support you. Do it.”
Officer Wimberly took to the streets of Philadelphia and collected more than 900 signatures in support.
Within a week of submitting the petition, the city council unanimously voted to rename the 1700 block of Montgomery. “He said I, everybody on the city council said I, it was like, I had to hold back the tears, it was like wow,” Officer Wimberly said when asked about the moment the council approved the resolution.
Vice President of Public Safety, Dr. Griffin hopes this initiative will continue to honor Sgt Fitzgerald’s life as Temple and the city of Philadelphia continue to mourn his death
“I think there’s been quite a few moments that all of us have felt down and we’re looking at this as a positive opportunity to be a constant reminder to our community of what police officers mean to us,” Griffin said
The soon to be – Christopher Fitzgerald Way – runs on the 1700 block of West Montgomery between North 18th street and North Bouvier street.
There is no official date yet on when the new street signs will be put up, but Officer Wimberly and Dr Griffin are determined to have it done before spring graduation so everyone can celebrate the life of Sergeant Fitzgerald together.
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