CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced Monday that it has paid, in full, the mortgage held on the home of fallen Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Mia Goodwin.
Goodwin, 33, died when she and three fellow officers were struck by a truck in the early morning of Dec. 22 on Interstate 85. CMPD confirmed Goodwin is the first female CMPD officer to be killed in the line of duty.
Goodwin, a six-year veteran of the force, had just returned to duty days prior after being on maternity leave. She leaves behind a 3-year-old child, a 1-year-old child, a 4-month-old baby, and husband Brenton Goodwin, who is a firefighter with the Charlotte Fire Department. Her children's names are Gabriella, Greyson and Gia.
The truck driver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, misdemeanor death by vehicle, failure to reduce speed and felony failure to move over for stopped emergency vehicles.
“This is a family of first responders, a husband and wife dedicated to serving and protecting their community. It is now our turn to step up and do the same for them. I was honored to tell Brenton that he will be able to stay in the home their family shared forever without the financial burden of a mortgage,” Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, said.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation's Fallen First Responder Home Program pays off the mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty with young children.
WCNC Charlotte is part of seven major media companies and other local institutions producing I Can’t Afford to Live Here, a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte. It is a project of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, which is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. See all of our reporting at charlottejournalism.org.