He had been responding to a call about a man who had jumped out a third-story window, then used concrete to break into a woman’s apartment in the 5200 block of Kenilworth Avenue, where he locked himself in a bedroom, police said.

The man, who was apparently high on PCP, was also hospitalized for his injuries jumping from the window.

Hundreds Honor Fallen County Police Officer

Prince George's County police officer Thomas P. Jensen was always good at making people laugh. Even as his friends, family and fellow officers gathered Monday to mourn his death, they found themselves laughing and smiling at tales of Jensen's pranks and lust for life.

Jensen, 27, died March 9 from injuries he sustained when he lost control of his police cruiser on a patch of ice and crashed into a telephone pole while responding to a call Feb. 27. He had remained in intensive care since the accident and is the 26th Prince George's County police officer to die in the line of duty.

Riverdale Baptist Church officials estimated that about 2,000 people attended the memorial service Monday in Upper Marlboro.

Many shared some of their fondest memories of Jensen: Friends spoke of how he once used crime scene tape to secretly attach a traffic barrel to the back of a friend's police cruiser, causing the officer to drag the barrel when he drove away. Others recalled how put his steering wheel on display after breaking it in half while trying to maneuver his large 6-foot-6-inch frame out of his police car.

"He would have made a heck of a living as a comedian, but he followed his heart and that's why we are here today," county police officer Paul Mazzei Jr., a friend of Jensen's since childhood, said at the service.

"He took the job seriously, but he knew that being serious all the time, you aren't going to make it doing the job we have," Mazzei said of Jensen's humor.

Jensen, a Bowie resident, followed his father, retired Sgt. Thomas Jensen, in joining the county police department and had worked out of the District 1 police station in Hyattsville for the five years he had been on the force. He was working patrol at the time of his death but aspired to become a narcotics detective so that he could play a more active role in solving cases, said Officer Jason Swope, who had also grown up with Jensen.

From an early age, Jensen liked trying on his father's uniform, and he was always full of questions when his father brought him into the station where he worked, recalled Police Chief Roberto Hylton. Along with police work, Jensen's wife of five months had also played a huge role in his life, friends said.

"She definitely helped him grow as a person," Swope said of Kristelle Jensen. "When he first started dating her, he couldn't say enough about her."

The two had met more than two years before through mutual friends, Swope said.

"He was so committed and showed such affection for Kristelle that he made me question if I was being the husband and father I was counseling him to be," Minister John Taylor said of the premarital counseling he provided the couple.

Jensen also had a passion for hockey, which he grew up playing at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville and continued playing with the Fraternal Order of Police team.

"When he was a player at DeMatha, he was so well liked by his teammates," said Tony MacAulay, the school's hockey director. "He would do anything for his team, and I think that translated well into his profession because I don't think there is anything he wouldn't do to try to help someone."

Jensen is survived by his wife, Kristelle, and his parents, Thomas and Paula Jensen. He was buried at the Lakemont Memorial Gardens cemetery in Davidsonville.
The Gazette