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A sombre police procession brought the body of an Ontario police officer killed in the line of duty this week to Thornhill, Ont., on Friday morning ahead of his funeral.
Lights flashing, the Ontario Provincial Police motorcade carrying the body of Const. Tarun Bali left the coroner’s office in North York and headed west on Highway 401 to a funeral home in Thornhill.
Bali, 29, was struck by the driver of a vehicle on Tuesday in the northern town of Hearst, about 520 kilometres east of Thunder Bay, as fellow investigators searched for a man who had escaped from a hospital.
Justin Veronneau, an 18-year-old man from Hearst, now faces charges including first-degree murder, assaulting police and dangerous operation of a vehicle.
OPP Sgt. Joe Brisebois said he got goosebumps as the procession passed construction workers who had removed their hats and bridges filled with saluting first responders.
“It feels like time is slowing down. Noise is fading,” Brisebois said in a video livestream of the procession.
“There’s only respect, gratitude and unity.”
Bali had been with the OPP for two-and-a-half years and was assigned to central Ontario’s Dufferin detachment but was on a deployment with the James Bay detachment.
OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk, also speaking in the livestream, said the outpouring of support has been remarkable.
“That image of people lining the overpasses is one that we’ll carry with us,” Sanchuk said. “I’m not usually at a loss for words, but I’m truly at a loss for words.”
The officers said onlookers taking time out of their busy days understand that an officer’s death reverberates through the entire community.
Community is in shock, says mayor
Earlier this week, Hearst Mayor Roger Sigouin said Bali’s death marks the first time an officer has died in the line of duty in the town, and the community is reeling.
He said that people are in shock but supporting one another, including community members who offered to pay for the meals of two officers who went out for breakfast Wednesday morning.
Police said arrangements for Bali’s funeral are still in the works. In the meantime, they invited people to sign a book of condolences at OPP detachments in Orangeville and Primrose.
Taking a moment to pay their respects makes people part of Bali’s story, Sanchuk said.
“People respond in the most human way possible,” Sanchuk said. “They stand, they wait, and they bear witness.”
Bali is one of two officers killed in the line of duty in the province this week. Const. Marc Pinizzotto, a Toronto police veteran, was shot dead Thursday during a raid linked to investigations into multiple shootings, including one at the U.S. Consulate in March.
Pinizzotto, who was 43, was carrying out a search at an apartment building in the city’s northwest and died in hospital.
