On the last day they worked together, Aurora Court Detention Technician Officer Dean Pederson had his lunch hour first, at noon.
As fellow officer Wilson Roman waited for his break at 1, he became very hungry. Pederson was due to get back soon. All of a sudden, Roman could sense someone sliding something across his desk. He looked up.
It was a three-piece spicy chicken meal from Popeye’s, courtesy of Pederson.
“I got that for you because I love you,” Pederson said.
“I said, ‘I love you too buddy,'” Roman recalled.
Roman asked, but Pederson wouldn’t let him pay for the meal.
“He goes, ‘No man, you’re not going to pay me,'” Roman said. “Just the kind of guy he was.”
After an apparent heart attack, Dean E. Pederson passed away Saturday at age 46, according to the Aurora Police Department, which wrote in a statement shared on Facebook that the entire Aurora police family is mourning the loss.
Pederson was husband to Maria Rubio and father of Branden, Christina and Dean, according to the statement. He was the son of Dean and Susan Hernandez Pederson, and had a brother named Dennis, along with extended family, according to the statement.
When Pederson joined the Aurora Police Department in 2001, Roman was his training officer. More recently, they’d been working alongside each other, and they’d become close, Roman said.
From the moment they met, Pederson had an eagerness to learn the job and to do it well, Roman said.
“We hit it off right away,” Roman said. “He was a good worker, a good listener… it’s not very easy because he was probably one of my favorite persons to work with. If the situation ever arose, I could just look at him and he’d know how I needed him to help, and vice versa.”
Pederson loved the White Sox and Roman was a Cubs fan, so they’d tease each other, but they had many similarities, such as their taste in food, Roman said. They frequently bought each other lunch, and Popeye’s and Subway were staples, he said.
Pederson’s memory meant not only did he remember what Roman liked for lunch, but he could recall stories from years past with precise detail, something he was known for around the department, where people called him “the storyteller,” Roman said.
When Roman asked Pederson how he remembered things from long ago, such as back when Roman was training him, Pederson responded that he just did, because they were part of his life, Roman said.
Roman and Pederson’s supervisor, Sgt. Gerry Marrero, described their late colleague as a friendly personality who would go above and beyond for inmates too.
In separate interviews, both pointed to a time Pederson did something not many others would likely do.
He was taking a female inmate, an older woman, who was going to see the judge for bond, Marerro said. As Pederson was handcuffing the woman, she said her hair was a mess, and she wouldn’t go in front of the judge looking like that. She asked Pederson to fix her hair, and he did, Marrero said.
“Dean looked like a hairstylist, doing that in the hallway,” Marrero said. “It’s a going joke.”
Marrero described Pederson as a professional officer who treated everyone with respect and never caused any complaints. Always making jokes, always smiling, Pederson lived for his family and for work, where he frequently talked about his wife and three children, Marrero said.
“Some people just clock in and out, but he came here and enjoyed what he was doing,” Marrero said.
Pederson coached his son’s baseball team and adored his wife, Roman said.
A few years ago, when Roman was stuck working a long shift on Thanksgiving, 2 p.m. rolled by and in came Pederson with two shopping bags full of traditional holiday food, Roman said.
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“He fed us all,” Roman said. “He even fed the prisoners. It was unbelievable. I will never forget that.”
While Pederson treated inmates fairly, if they crossed a line, he’d let them know it, making sure he maintained the upper hand, Roman said.
“In the blink of an eye, a simple situation can turn into a deadly one,” Roman said.
The news of Pederson’s death upset Marrero, he said.
“I was in shock because Dean is 46 years old,” Marrero said. “He is the same age I am. Anybody that passes at a young age like that, it will always shock you.”
Visitation for Pederson is scheduled from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Russo’s Hillsdale Chapels, 4500 Roosevelt Road, in Hillside. Family and friends will gather for services Friday , beginning with a 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Matthew Church on Glen Ellyn Road in Glendale Heights, according to the police department. Following the Mass, interment will take place at Calvary Cemetery in West Chicago.
Court Detention Technician officers will serve as pallbearers during the services, Roman said.
“I just want to be there and say my goodbyes,” Roman said. “Not having him beside me… he had this infectious laugh.”
In an internal memo, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman wrote of the impression Pederson left on many people with his warmth and kindness, and stated that the department wouldn’t be the same without him.
“My heart goes out to his family and our booking family as I know how difficult it will be to be in that space without him,” Ziman wrote. “The only solace I can find is knowing what a legacy he left and the lives he positively affected.”
Twitter @hannahmleone