Baltimore police officer laid to rest

BALTIMORE - Family, friends, and members of the community gathered to remember fallen Baltimore police officer, Forrest E. Taylor, at a funeral Friday.

Officer Taylor was critically injured during a car crash last February, and he didn't recover.

"Officer Taylor unfortunately died from complications from that accident last week and it's tough it's tough because it's a very tough job, these men and women risk their lives to help people they don't know they rush to help people they rush to service and they back up the quality of that service with their lives," City Police Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says.

TRAFFIC ALERT | Click here to see the route of the funeral procession

But it's also about the loss of a 17-year veteran officer, and father of two who was well-liked by his peers and the community.

“What's important now is that Officer Taylor's family is part of our family, the BPD family and unfortunately we've had this happen a couple of times in the last several years and it's never easy and our promise to that family is that we will honor them like Officer Taylor honored this city,” Guglielmi says.

Prior to Taylor's death, he was working to transition to the police academy in effort to help train future officers. His fellow officers say it was a move that made sense, as Taylor was an officer that at one time or another, had worked in all departments.

"He's probably one of the most dedicated officers we've had," said Baltimore Police Department Chief of Patrol John Skinner. "In his last couple of years, he was very, very visible, because he was a downtown foot officer."

The death of Taylor is the Baltimore Police Department's first loss of an officer for 2012.

Officer Taylor’s funeral was Friday at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on North Charles Street.

* Rosevelt Leftwich contributed to this article.