ROCKFORD — Family members want to know what really happened early Sunday morning when a Rockford police officer shot Eddie Lee Patterson to death and was himself killed in an ensuing crash.

They said Patterson, 49, was unarmed and had until Sunday remained on the right side of the law for nearly a decade. After viewing Patterson's body in the Winnebago County Coroner's Office on Tuesday afternoon, family members said they had more questions than answers.

"I know my brother," said Jossie Patterson, 46, noting that the family still doesn't know how many times Patterson was shot. "He was not a bad guy. Anyone who knew Eddie knew he was a good person."

Patterson, a Guilford High School graduate and the father of two grown daughters, worked at the BMO Harris Bank Center for about 14 years. He loved playing video games and helping people, his brother Tyrone Patterson said.

He was the kind of friend who was first in line to lend a hand if someone had to move or needed help with yard work, Tyrone Patterson said. He liked to work supervising setup and cleanup at the arena because he got to see the wrestling shows, monster truck rallies and performers like KISS and Carrie Underwood.

Patterson spent time in prison after a conviction on a 1999 charge of aggravated battery to a child. After his release, he was arrested in 2007 on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest, but those charges were dropped. A year later, Patterson pleaded guilty to a charge of driving on a revoked license and without insurance and was sentenced to one year of periodic confinement.

But after that, family members say, Patterson stayed out of trouble.

He had talked with his brother about the dangers of driving with a revoked license, but had told his brother that he was prepared to face the legal consequences.

Patterson bought a white 1994 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck after seeing it advertised on Craigslist. He borrowed someone's old license plate for it. And Patterson apparently pulled over and stopped when Rockford police officer Jaimie Cox spotted him driving the truck about 1 a.m. Sunday in the area of East State Street and Dawn Avenue with mismatched plates registered to a different vehicle.

What happened next is not certain, and may haunt both families as long as they live.

Detectives with the Winnebago-Boone County Integrity Task Force are attempting to determine how Cox became entangled in, on or with the truck and unable to free himself, said Illinois State Police Sgt. Sam Thomas, the task force's lead investigator.

They are trying to determine when and why Cox opened fire during the incident, and how the vehicle ended up two blocks from the initial stop where it careened into a tree outside a church, killing Cox in the crash.

Patterson's family members and investigators are asking many of the same questions: Did Patterson attempt to flee after initially stopping? If so, why? Did the car crash because Cox shot and killed the driver?

Tyrone Patterson and his sisters were joined at the coroner's office Tuesday by the Rev. Melvin Brown of the Kingdom Authority Church and House of Grace Daycare, the site of the 2009 officer-involved shooting death of Mark Anthony Barmore. That incident gave rise to the creation of the task force to investigate officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, improved officer training and new use-of-force management practices.

Brown and Patterson's family said they hope security camera or cellphone video is found showing what happened during the traffic stop. Rockford police do not wear body cameras and Cox's squad car was not equipped with a dashboard camera. They question why Cox was alone.

"I don't know, because he stopped," Tyrone Patterson said. "Something happened. I wasn't there, but I know my brother. He stopped. They even said he stopped. Something happened."

The Patterson family wonders whether Cox, who had joined the department 11 months ago, was exhausted when he made the traffic stop. Although Cox normally worked the day shift, his cousin and fellow Rockford police officer, Adam Cox, said the young officer had volunteered after his regular shift to work an open night shift.

Cox was a U.S. military veteran who served in Afghanistan and had previously worked in law enforcement for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Patterson's family members said they are saddened by Cox's death, expressed concern for his family and offered their condolences.

But they say they are left wondering whether mistakes were made that led to an altercation during the traffic stop.

"He had to have been scared," Jossie Patterson said. "He must have had some fear in his heart in order to try to elude that police officer. If his intention was just to go and try to get away, there was no reason for him to stop, he could have just kept going. He pulled that weapon and my brother got scared. My brother is not an aggressive type of guy."

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com;@jeffkolkey