There’s a ripple of grief moving through the Dallas Police Department, within the community, and among friends and family of Jacob Arellano, the 25-year-old Dallas police officer killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver.
Arellano’s brother, Francisco Arellano, says life has changed forever. Everywhere he looks, family photos, college memorabilia, and a Dallas Police patch are all symbols of his younger brother’s accomplishments.
“He was loving. He was caring. He always put people in front him. He was funny,” he said.
Francisco Arellano is still back in their hometown of El Paso. He said his brother left for Dallas a few years ago with dreams of becoming a police officer. He was living out that dream when his life was taken.
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“I got the call, and it was the worst news to ever hear in my life,” said Francisco.
Jacob Arellano was headed to work when a suspected drunken driver traveling the wrong way on Spur 408 hit him head-on. He was just a couple of miles from his destination.
At Dallas PD's Northwest Patrol Division, where Arellano was expected for roll call Tuesday night, a memorial was growing. Arellano’s grieving family gathered there as well to lay roses.
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"We’re just completely broken. I know we’re going to have to live with this forever but it's been two days and it’s just the hardest thing to deal with," said Francisco.
Even those who’d never met Officer Arellano were moved to tears while leaving flowers on a parked squad car at the police station.
Back in El Paso, Francisco said he doesn’t know how his family will move forward.
“I’m going to miss just him being with me, just him being someone I can talk to,” he said.
Office Arellano also leaves behind a girlfriend and a young son.
As for the driver who hit him, no new information had been released as of Thursday night. The investigation is ongoing, but police have stated they suspect the driver was intoxicated.
