Hundreds of people gathered at the Ralph P. Adams Stadium at Cuyahoga Heights High School to remember Jacob Derbin, a 2018 graduate and Euclid Police officer who was killed Saturday when responding to a disturbance call.
It was a somber evening at the high school stadium as friends, family, former coaches and classmates shared memories of the first-year officer.
Derbin played football at Cuyahoga Heights. After high school, he joined the U.S. Army National Guard and served in Kuwait, according to his obituary. He graduated from Kent State University's Police Academy before joining Euclid's police department last year.
Cheer coach and alumna Erika Bacci organized the candlelight vigil. She said she hopes the community remembers Derbin for his smile and generosity.
"It’s going to be his personality and how he was always putting himself before others," she said. "I think that really shows that, even in the end, how he was looking out for his fellow officers. That he cared about them even more than his own safety."
Bacci said she hopes the vigil will be the first step in the healing process for Derbin’s friends and family.
Derbin's former football coach Al Martin said he remembers Derbin fondly.
Though teachers often enter the workforce with the hopes of bettering the lives of their students, Martin said it’s hardworking, compassionate students like Derbin who have a greater impact.
“We lost the great one. Jacob made us all better,” he said. “Maybe we could be a little bit more like Jacob. Be a little kinder to each other. Lift those around us up more often. Give a few more bear hugs and greet people with a smile.”
In her remarks during the vigil, Derbin's mother Dawn Derbin thanked the community for showing up to support their family and honor her son’s life.
“We couldn't do this without you right now,” she said. “This is our home … and this is our peace. This is helping us so much.”
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held for Derbin at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Columbkille Church in Parma.
Euclid Police Captain Mitch Houser spoke on behalf of the police department. Though he said he didn’t get to know Derbin well during his time on the police force, the young officer reminded him of another member of the force: Derbin’s father, Vince.
“There's another officer in the police department that has that same character, that depth of character, that spirit and that soul and that's Vince," Houser said. "Vince is an amazing officer. We're very fortunate to have him as part of our family, and I personally am blessed — blessed to call him my friend.”
Jacob Derbin, 23, was shot and killed Saturday in what authorities described as an "ambush" just before 10 p.m. in the 300 block of East 211th Street.
Officers were responding to a disturbance call in a backyard when the suspect, later identified as 24-year-old Deshawn Anthony Vaughn, opened fire before fleeing on foot. No other officers were injured, police said.
Vaughn was found dead Sunday after an hours-long standoff with police in Shaker Heights. His death was ruled a suicide.
