Updated 11/06/2011 06:19 PM
Church Honors Beloved Associate Pastor Killed By Police Car
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An associate pastor in Brooklyn who was killed by a police traffic car on Friday was remembered on Sunday by the church he helped lead. NY1's Bree Driscoll filed the following report. As the congregation of the New Frontier Baptist Church in Weeksville, Brooklyn gathered in song Sunday morning, one voice that was noticeably missing.
The Reverend Theauther Love, 87, was killed Friday morning. Police say Love was crossing Eastern Parkway around 7 a.m., when he was hit by a marked New York City Police Department traffic car traveling westbound.
Love was brought to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Reverend Theauther Love
While Love's voice was missing, his name still graced the pages of the church's program.
"He could really pray and also he could sing the low songs that would lift the spirit of the people," said the Reverend John Quincy Adams, a pastor at the New Frontier Baptist Church.
"He wanted to go, he didn't want to suffer. And we believe that is just what he did," said another church member. "He went the way he did and we have to be thankful for that."
Police said no criminality was suspected and they continued to investigate the crash.
Parishioners still had questions how Love could have been hit.
"How could it happen? How could it possibly have happened to a man of that age? I know he didn't just step out into traffic," said parishioner Rita Knight. "He walked every day and I just know he knew what he was doing. I know there is something more to this story and it just hurts my heart that he had to die like this."
"I want them to investigate and find out if the traffic cop was wrong," said Adams. "And if they find out that he is wrong, then he should be punished."
As church members tried to cope with losing one of their own, they remembered Love's good qualities.
"Kind, loyal and an excellent husband, good father, outstanding minister," said one parishioner.
"He was a kind gentleman and loving," said parishioner Lucille Dowd.
"He would pray for people who were sick and many times they were healed. So he will be greatly missed," said the Reverend Job Hamlett of New Frontier Baptist Church.
Adams said missionaries will be supporting Love's survivors.