Highway 400 became the highway of heroes Friday as the body of OPP Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was retained to his home town of Barrie in a cavalcade of police vehicles. A police funeral is scheduled for Jan. 4.
As has been the case when Canadian war dead are returned hundreds of first responders and citizens lined the overpasses to pay their respects.OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala.
The 28-year-old OPP officer was killed Dec. 27 while responding to a call for a car in a ditch west of Hagersville. Ass he approached the vehicle Pierzchala was gunned down without a chance of drawing his gun.
28-year-old Randall McKenzie and a 30-year-old woman have been charged with first-degree murder in relation to the shooting. OPP commissioner Thomas Carrique said the shooting death “should never have happened,” as the alleged shooter was out on bail and had a lifetime ban from owning a firearm. He and Premier Doug Ford are among those calling for a review of the bail system in Ontario.
The procession left the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto around 9 a.m. and travelled north on Highway 400 to Barrie, where mourners and those looking to pay their respects stood on each of the city’s overpasses.
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