Veteran's Flag-Draped Coffin Left Unattended for Coffee Run

Two funeral home workers are out of a job after the hearse they were driving Tuesday was spotted in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot.

The problem was that hearse contained the flag-draped coffin of Lt. Col. Jesse Coleman, whose body was being transported from Veterans Funeral Care in Clearwater to a service in his honor. The drivers decided to make a pit stop at the New Port Richey eatery around 8:50 a.m. for coffee. Their vehicle caught the attention of a passerby who happened to take a video.

“That’s absolutely terrible,” Veterans Funeral Care President Jim Rudolph told WPTV after learning of the incident. “That’s absolutely a total lack of respect.”

The two men have since been fired, but not before their act drew fire from a local veterans’ group.

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It seems Rob Carpenter, the man who shot the video, shared it with Veterans Warriors. That group, in turn, posted images to their Facebook page.

Those images have since been pulled down.

”For anyone wondering, the family of the veteran at the center of today’s issue requested we pull the photo of the hearse,” the Veteran Warriors explained. “We did so because this was about a lack of respect.”

Rudolph told WPTV that he reached out to Coleman’s widow to tell her about the incident. While she didn’t think the two men should be fired, Rudolph told the station he has no intention of changing his mind.

Carpenter, a military veteran, told WFLA the scene shocked him enough he confronted the funeral home workers.

“It was very upsetting and very disrespectful to this soldier and their family,” he said.

Coleman, 84, and his wife, Dora, were married 54 years and had two children, Craig and Angela. He was a commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served a tour in Korea and two tours in Vietnam, according to the Veterans Funeral Care website. His service was held Tuesday at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Crystal River.

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