Philadelphia Police Officer Lynneice Hill, 44, who died from apparent medical emergency, laid to rest

Philadelphia Police Officer Lynneice Hill, 44, who died July 14 after an apparent medical emergency, was laid to rest by her family, friends and fellow police officers Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of Philadelphia Police officers and friends and family gathered at the Mt Airy Church of God in Christ on Ogontz Avenue to bid their last farewells to Hill, a 24-year veteran, who was described by her husband as “superwoman.”

Her fellow officers, clad in light blue, saluted the incoming procession of cars, as Hill’s family and friends arrived to pay their last respects.

Hill was deeply religious, her husband Dennis Smith said, and was an ordained minister at Jones Temple Church of God in Christ, in Fairmount. She was active in the church’s youth program, he said, but her passion for charitable work extended beyond her job and place of worship.

For more than three years, twice a month, Hill delivered groceries to people with cancer across the city, said Michael Rowe, CEO of Legacy of Hope, a Philadelphia nonprofit that supports people with the disease.

City and law enforcement officials, including Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, attended the viewing and services.

“My heart is with her family, loved ones, and PPD colleagues,” Kenney wrote in a post on Twitter Wednesday.

Hill, who most recently worked in the 3rd District, was working an overtime assignment in the parking lot of the T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods stores in the 1800 block of South Christopher Columbus Boulevard, Outlaw said.

An officer saw her about 5 p.m. July 14 and spoke to Hill, who didn’t show any signs of pain or sickness, she said. A few hours later, people in the parking lot walking into the store saw Hill eating in her car.

When people exited the store shortly before 9 p.m. that night, they saw Hill slumped over and called 911, a police source said.

Medics performed CPR on Hill and she was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, Outlaw said.

She leaves behind her husband Smith, a police officer assigned to the 14th District, two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren. Smith and Hill grew up together in North Philadelphia, he said, and the two joined the police department a year apart.

“She would do anything, really everything, for anybody,” Smith previously told The Inquirer. “She took care of everyone. She was just a star.”