Procession held to honor Berks County officer killed in crash

A procession took place Monday night in Berks County for Central Berks Regional Police Officer Kristen Yeager, who died in a car crash while on duty over the weekend, according to police.Police said that on Friday, Yeager was responding to an emergency assistance request from a neighboring police department when her patrol car left the roadway, entered a ditch and struck a tree. Yeager died that night, authorities said. She is survived by her husband and three children, according to police.Procession heldOfficials said the procession traveled across Reading from Reading Hospital to the police station and ended at Lutz Funeral Home. Police asked residents and businesses along the route to turn their lights blue. Several Reading-area landmarks were also illuminated in blue, including the Reading Pagoda and the Penn Street Bridge, according to authorities.Former Shippensburg University graduateShippensburg University also mourned Yeager, a 2006 graduate and former field hockey player for the Raiders. In a statement, the university said Yeager earned a degree in criminal justice in 2006 and later received a master’s degree in administration of justice from Shippensburg in December 2007. According to the university, Yeager was from Reading and came to Shippensburg in 2002 after graduating from Exeter Township High School. She began as a forward on the field hockey team before moving to defense, where she became a starting center back for the Raiders. The university said Yeager was also a starting defender and senior leader on the 2005 Shippensburg team that won a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship.USA Field Hockey also paid tribute, saying in a statement that it was “deeply saddened by the passing of Officer Kristen Houck-Yeager,” whom it described as a former Shippensburg University field hockey standout.