LOUDON, Tenn. — For the Loudon County community, the death of Sgt. Chris Jenkins Thursday morning in a crash on Interstate 75 is not only a gut-wrenching loss but a heartbreaking reminder of another deputy's passing -- that of Jason M. Scott in 2004.
Scott and Jenkins were first cousins.
Scott, 24, and about to be a father, was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance call in March 2004. A teenager inside the house, the son of an area prosecutor, shot and killed Scott as he arrived on the scene outside the boy's house.
The teen, Michael Harvey, wounded several others before taking his own life.
Days after Scott died, his wife Joni delivered their child, Jayden. She turns 18 next month.
In 2014, the state honored Scott by naming part of Interstate 75 in Loudon County after him.
The "Deputy Jason Michael Scott Memorial Highway" is from mile marker 68 to 81 on I-75. The section stretches from Philadelphia, Tenn., to Lenoir City.
In 2019, Jayden visited the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial in Washington, D.C. It features her father's name, recognition for the ultimate sacrifice he made for the community.
It wasn't the first time she'd been there. When she was just a toddler, her mother told WBIR she took her to see the memorial when his name was placed on the stone.
It holds more than 20,000 names of men and women that have lost their lives in the line of duty.
The Loudon County Sheriff's Office --- the entire East Tennessee law enforcement community, in fact --- continues to honor and remember Jason Scott to this day.