OPP officer remembered as a "hero" and an "inspiration"
The funeral for slain Ontario Provincial Police officer Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala was held in his hometown of Barrie, Ontario. He’s being remembered as a hero who died doing the job he dreamed about since the age of five.
“Those who worked along side him called him exemplary,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford at the private memorial service held at the Sadlon Arena. Hundreds of family members, friends, and policing colleagues attended the solemn event.
Pierzchala was shot and killed in an ambush attack while responding to a call for a vehicle in a ditch west of Hagersville on December 27th.
25-year-old Randall McKenzie and 30-year-old Brandi Crystal Lyn Stewart-Sperry have each been charged with first degree murder in Pierzchala's death.
OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique was filled with emotion while speaking at the funeral service as he described the collective “anger and outrage over the senseless and preventable circumstances surrounding Greg’s death.”
Pierzchala was killed the same day he completed his 10-month probationary period with the OPP, marking the completion of a life-long goal to be a police officer. Ford called Pierzchala’s fate “cruel beyond words.”
Pierzchala was one of four siblings and his sister, Justyna Pierzchala, spoke at the service calling her brother “one of my greatest teachers. Greg died a hero and lived as an inspiration.”
Pierzchala, a former constable at the provincial legislature and a member of the Armed Forces, is the fifth police officer in Canada to be killed on the job since September.
Ford told the room full of police and Canadian Armed Forces members that he will always have their back. “Every day you put your life on the line to protect the people of Ontario, and I will do everything I can to protect each one of you and the communities you serve.”
Ford recited the names of Const. Andrew Hong, Const. Morgan Russell, and Const. Devon Northrup along with Pierzchala saying “these men were heroes in life, and we will always remember them that way.”
Const. Shaelyn Yang was an RCMP officer in British Columbia when she was killed in the line of duty.
