LATHROP – The second annual Memorial March by the Justice for Jeremy in Lathrop will be held Saturday, Sept. 18, starting at 9 a.m. at the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp.

The march is to “symbolically complete the walk that Jeremy Lum could not finish” after he was released from the county jail in July last year, according to Connie Lum Perez, a member of the family that is spearheading advocacy efforts on behalf of those suffering from mental illness.

 The march is part of the Lum family’s continuing effort to turn their tragedy into something positive, and to challenge everyone to “Be the Change” which is the rallying cry of the Justice For Jeremy movement that was launched after the 29-year-old Jeremy Lum’s untimely death.

The group will walk from the county jail at 7000 Michael Canlis Blvd. in French Camp to the Lathrop Senior Center and Community Center on Fifth Street where live music, fellowship, refreshments and food will be held from noon to 6 p.m.

“We are committed to ‘Being the Change.’ Our mission is to bring public awareness to the special needs of the mentally ill and to bring change to the way public safety agencies handle mentally ill persons. This problem is widespread in California and costs the lives of many innocent persons,” reads the flyer invitation being distributed by the Lum family.

The family is also acknowledging the “moral and financial support of the Justice for Jeremy movement” which is making the post-walk event at Valverde Park available free to the public.

At the first annual walk, some of the participants walked barefoot in sympathy of Jeremy Lum who was released from jail barefoot and without a means of transportation.

The march is starting at the county jail because that was where the UC Berkeley graduate, who was bipolar, was released after he was detained overnight allegedly for being under the influence. The night before, he was picked up by Lathrop Police in a residential front yard not far from his own home after residents called police about a suspicious circumstance. Family members believed Jeremy, who was with his dog Attila, were headed in the direction of Lum Perez’s home not far from his home in the old central part of Lathrop but became disoriented.  Jeremy Lum, who was a member of the first senior class to graduate from Sierra High School, vanished soon after he was released at the county jail barefoot and without any means of transportation.

After a massive land and air, his body was found floating in the San Joaquin River not far from the county jail.

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by Jerry Lum and Dorothea Timmons, the parents of Jeremy Lum, in United States District Court, Eastern District of California. Named in the suit are the City of Lathrop, San Joaquin County, two Sheriff’s sergeants, and 50 unnamed individuals. The complaint is seeking damages as well as a demand for jury trial.