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State police remember fallen troopers

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Chartiers Township police Officer Jesse Broda, right, was among those attending the Pennsylvania State Police Troop B memorial program Wednesday in Eighty Four.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper John Weaver, left, stands with other members of Troop B during the state police memorial service Wednesday in Eighty Four.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Pennsylvania State Police Sgt. Sandra Soliday reads the roll call during the state police memorial program Wednesday in Eighty Four.

On the 113th anniversary of founding of the Pennsylvania state police, troopers from Troop B were joined by local police officers Wednesday to remember comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice and died in the line of duty.

They gathered to honor the heritage of their fallen brothers, said Capt. Joseph Ruggery, commanding officer of the troop headquartered in Washington. Thirteen members of the troop were among the 98 troopers across the state who died in the line of duty since the state police was founded by Gov. Samuel Pennypacker on May 2, 1905.

“They were true pioneers,” Ruggery said of Pennypacker and the state Legislature.

“The statewide police force was the first in the nation.”

Ruggery said troopers of today are the keepers of the flame and one day that torch will be passed to future members of the state police.

Both he and Coleman McDonough, retired state police deputy commissioner and current Allegheny County police superintendent, noted the current animosity against law enforcement.

Ruggery said the voices crying out against law enforcement are the very ones who would be lost without the police. He thanked the officers for the sacrifices they make every day on the job.

McDonough said said it is a tough time to be in law enforcement, noting that on April 28 a dozen police officers were killed in 10 states.

“There have been 47 officers killed so far this year and 26 of those were by gunfire,” McDonough said. “That is a 73 increase over this time last year.”

McDonough said the officers killed were targeted because they wore an uniform.

“And the uniform color didn’t matter,” he said.

McDonough recognized the importance of remembering those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

“I am a survivor of a slain police officer,” he said. “My father was gunned down answering a domestic call in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood more than 50 years ago.”

Family members of Cpl. Joseph Pokorny, who was the last trooper from Troop B to die in the line of duty when when he was shot and killed Dec. 12, 2005, also attended the ceremony. Retired South Strabane Township police Chief Donald Zofchak also asked that Officer Nathan Burnfield, who died Nov. 4, 2008, when he was struck by a dump truck on Interstate 70 while working, be remembered.

Fallen troopers were also remembered Wednesday at a ceremony at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy in Hershey. Special attention during the ceremony was given to Trooper Michael Stewart,III, who was killed July 14 in a two-vehicle crash in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County. The 26-year-old trooper was a member of Troop A, headquartered in Greensburg.

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