Cranford Native, Daughter Of Fallen Cop, To Attend State Of Union

CRANFORD — Hailey Seals, the oldest child of Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals —who was killed while investigating what became an act of domestic terrorism in that city on Dec. 10 — will attend the president's State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 4. She will come as the guest of Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski.

Seals is a graduate of Cranford High School and a freshman at Kean University in Union.

“I admire Hailey’s bravery in coming to Washington to honor her father’s ultimate sacrifice,” said Malinowski on Friday. “The cowards who murdered her father and three other innocents in a kosher deli were driven to violence by hate."

He added, "Heroes like Hailey’s father are on the front lines in what is becoming a national fight against violent extremism. As lawmakers, we owe it to them to give law enforcement the resources they need to respond to and prevent future acts of terror.”

Joseph Seals was a 15-year veteran of the Jersey City Police force serving in the Street Crimes Unit. He was investigating a crime in Jersey City on Dec. 10 when he came upon two people in a van who allegedly took five more lives in an anti-Semitic attack that could have been even more destructive.