Suspect in fatal Millville crash applied to become officer

MILLVILLE, N.J. - July 9, 2012 (WPVI) -- Citizens of Millville and its police department are still reeling after the early morning crash yesterday that killed 8-year veteran Christopher Reeves.

Reeves was killed just after 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning when he and police trainee Jonathan Seidel joined the pursuit of a vehicle that hit another cruiser during an attempted stop.

As Reeves turned left onto 3rd Street from Broad, police say a vehicle driven by Timothy Seidel of Commercial Township plowed into the driver's side of the cruiser.

The crash killed Reeves and seriously injured the other officer and the suspect.

Both trainee Jonathan Seidel and suspect Timothy Seidel, no relation, are being treated at Cooper University Hospital.

Action News has learned Timothy Seidel had applied to become a Millville police officer, but was being rejected because of residency issues.

Reeves was the first Millville police officer killed in the line of duty.

Colleagues and the community are in shock over the popular officer's death.

His friends called him Superman because he shared the same name as the late movie actor who played that role.

"He was just a great person. He would actually light up people. He would make them laugh, a great person," Captain Matt Rabbai of the Millville Police Department said.

Reeves was the father of a young son, Alex, who turned 2 on Friday and was married to another Millville police officer, Sue Reeves.

"I feel sorry for his wife, she's a good person. I know Sue. They had a child, the child's going to grow up without his dad. Nobody wants that," resident Elvis Colon said.

Patrol officer Nelson Ferrer says he and Chris Reeves were close friends.

"To me he was like a brother and this is breaking me real bad. To be here today is hard, really, really hard. I woke up this morning, I didn't want to be here this morning but I figure I have to do it for Chris," Ferrer said.

"He wasn't just quick to arrest you or anything like that. He was a nice guy. He would go out of his way to try to help you," resident Shane Lattanci said.

A memorial has been set up at the crash scene in honor of what many are calling a funny, kind, model officer.

The PBA set up a fund for Reeves' son. Donations can be sent to Officer Christopher Reeves Fund at P.O. Box 1142, Millville, NJ 08332.

The funeral service for Officer Reeves has been scheduled for Friday.

The memorial is from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Lakeside Middle School in Millville.

Burial at Mount Pleasant Cemetery will follow.

Timothy Seidel, meanwhile, is charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and related offenses.

Bail has been set at $500,000.

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