Rodney "Hot Rod" Jones
Officer Rodney "Hot Rod" Jones, a 28-year Detroit Police veteran, collapsed and died Saturday in Flint while riding his motorcycle in a "Bikes on Bricks" competition for police in the U.S. and Canada.
"He was a great cop," said friend Ira Todd, an investigator for the Detroit Police Department who worked with Jones on the gang squad in the 1980s and 1990s. "It's so shocking. He was the best partner I ever had."
"Everybody knew 'Hot Rod.' He raced hot rods," Todd said. "That was his gang squad name."
In recent years, Todd said Jones worked as a traffic cop.
He recently saw Jones selling t-shirts at Detroit's 36th District Court with the names of all the fallen Detroit cops who died on duty. The proceeds went to support a fund for fallen officers' families.
Jones is survived by his wife and children, WXYZ reports.
