The MIT cop slain by the Boston bombing suspects was “born to be a police officer” — and was remembered yesterday as extremely dedicated and well-liked in the campus community.
Officer Sean A. Collier, 26, of Somerville, Mass., was responding to a disturbance near the MIT campus in Cambridge when he was shot dead inside his squad car about 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. His gun was never drawn.
“Sean was one of these guys who really looked at police work as a calling,” MIT Police Chief John DiFava said. “He was born to be a police officer.”
Collier had been an MIT cop since January 2012 and was popular in the campus community. He frequently joined students in skiing and hiking.
DiFava said it was “remarkable how engaged he was.”
“Our only solace is that Sean died bravely doing what he committed his life to — serving and protecting others,” his family said in a statement.
Collier graduated in the same police class as transit cop Richard Donohue Jr., 33, who was wounded in the shootout that killed Tamerlan Tsarnaev.