FINAL MASSIVE FAREWELL FOR TORONTO POLICE SGT RYAN RUSSELL KILLED BY A SELFISH MAN ON A SNOWPLOW RAMPAGE.

Police Widow Mrs Christine Russell speaks at the funeral

I can't begin to tell you what kinda week this was! Three officers dead in the US and Toronto, Canada had a massive funeral for our own Sgt Ryan Russell this past Tuesday Jan 18th 2011. The Toronto Sun had full comprehensive coverage. The words spoken at the funeral, the images, the 2y/o kid echoing around the auditorium "Where's daddy?" at this huge police event.

From Chris Doucette at the Toronto Sun: It was a gut-wrenching day for the family of Sgt. Ryan Russell, his fellow officers and the entire city as the fallen hero was laid to rest in the biggest police funeral Toronto has ever seen.Perhaps the most upsetting moment came during the service inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre as mourners seated close to the grieving widow, Christine, heard the officer’s son Nolan, 2, ask: “Where’s daddy?”

“It was an emotional and difficult day for everyone,” said Toronto Councillor Michael Thompson, vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board. Like most of the nearly 13,000 police, emergency services workers and civilians in attendance, he lauded the “courage” displayed by Russell’s widow as she spoke publicly for the first about the death of her husband, 35.“Ryan always put others before himself,” Christine said, fighting back tears. “On Jan. 12, this cost him his life.” “Ryan, we are all so proud of you,” she continued.

“You are an amazing husband, you’re the best dad, you’re an amazing son, brother, uncle, you’re a grandson, a wonderful friend, an amazing colleague.” However, it was those two words spoken by little Nolan that will forever haunt Thompson.“I was touched when his young son, sitting in the front row, asked where daddy was,” he said. “It brought tears to my eyes.” Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair was also emotional, saying while the public learned Russell was a good officer in the days after his death, Tuesday’s funeral provided a glimpse of his personal life.

When asked how he felt as he saluted Russell’s hearse on Bremnar Blvd., Blair became choked up and paused to collect himself.“It was very heartbreaking,” Blair said.“I’m very mindful that there’s a broken-hearted young woman there, and a little boy, an incredibly cute little boy, who won’t know his father unless we all make an effort to remind him of the type of guy his father was,” he added.Blair said that 12,500 mourning cops, firefighter and paramedics — from across Canada and the United States — filled the downtown core enroute to the funeral.“As we walked down the street, I was struck by how quiet the city was,” he recalled.

It was just as quiet last Wednesday morning as Torontonians slept and a fresh blanket of snow fell on the city.But all hell broke loose just after 5 a.m. when a snowplow was stolen from outside a Tim Horton’s in Regent Park.Russell, an 11-year veteran of the force, was run down soon after near Avenue and Davenport Rds. while trying to stop the vehicle as it tore a path of destruction.Richard Kachkar, 44, now faces a first-degree murder charge for the officer’s killing.

Once Russell’s colleagues made their way to the convention centre, they lined both sides of the street and saluted as the hearse carrying his body passed by.Because the crowd was so huge, it then took nearly two hours for everyone to make their way inside.A police spokesman said the turnout far exceeded expectations.Many dignitaries, including Premier Dalton McGuinty, Lt.-Gov. David Onley and Vaughan MP Julian Fantino, a former Toronto police chief, attended the funeral.“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Bill McCormack, another former Toronto police chief. “It was unreal!”

HIS EYES WERE DONATED TO A CHILD

Death did not stop Sgt. Ryan Russell from helping others.Toronto Police Chaplain Rev. Walter Kelly announced during Russell’s funeral service that he had donated his eyes to a child.“As Ryan closed his eyes in death, he gave resurrection and a new kind of life to someone else, and that’s wonderful,” Kelly said Wednesday.He was with Russell’s family when they received the call from Trillium Gift of Life Network, who told the family Russell’s blue eyes had been donated to a child.“Even in death he was giving,” Kelly said.

“Families touched by a tragedy have to make a decision. Now with medical science the way it is we can care for someone else who is hoping and praying for a miracle.”Frank Markel president and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network said he thinks this donation says very good things about Russell, who signed a donor card, and his family, who supported the decision.“For him to be so generous speaks volumes about who he was,” he said. “That in particular, his wife, would let him be a cornea donor speaks volumes. It’s entirely (keeping) with the courage we saw yesterday.”

Yet Markel understands why people may not want to part with their loves one’s eyes.“For many people the eyes are so closely related to who we are,” he said.Kelly urged people to think about organ donation before a death occurs.“(Tragedies) happen in our lives, we don’t know, and sometimes we only have hours to decide,” he said.The courage Russell and his family displayed by donating has not only helped the child who received the eyes but the family of that child who will no longer suffer.“The cornea gives the gift of sight,” Markel said. “Sight is so precious to us, it opens up so much to us.”

‎Here are significant quotes that struck me that were read at the funeral....

"What's daddy's job-Police man, Who does he catch-bad guys, how does his car sound-woo-woo. When we are planted in death we can resurrect someone else. Sign the card" Rev Walter Kelly (TPS Police Chaplain) speaking about Ryan's son learning daddy's job and how Ryan's signed his organ donation card.

"Think of it, a child seeing God's beautiful world through Ryan's eyes," Police Chaplain Kelly telling mourners that Ryan's blue eyes were donated to a child.

‎"At the guns and gangs unit, Ryan Knew every tattoo, he knew every banger and bandit." Suprintendent Fergurson 52 Div Head

"Ryan had a love for everyone, even stray cats. He brought one home as the family pet, then got 6 kittens weeks later..a bonus" Suprintendent Fergurson 52 Div Head

"Ryan was a good man. He was a good Cop!" Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair

THIS FUNERAL HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PR OR THE G20. It was about toddler Nolan

Rob Granatstein, one of the Editors of the Toronto Sun writes: The backlash erupting in response to the police funeral for Sgt. Ryan Russell is sickening.On talk radio, in my voice-mail, in letters to the editor, calls to our office, not an insignificant number of people are expressing outrage over the events of Tuesday in Toronto.They’re furious so many police officers showed up.They can’t believe how much the funeral will cost the city.They don’t think this police officer deserves the hero treatment for doing the job he’s paid to do.

They’re mad about the massive media coverage.And, the biggest conspiracy theory of all, they believe it’s a political smokescreen to offset negative attention from the G20 policing debacle.One caller to my voice-mail even complained, “what did Ryan Russell do for me, to make my life better?”My problem isn’t with his freedom of speech, but let’s look at the real issues here.On the morning of Jan. 12, a wild man behind the wheel of a stolen snowplow went demolition-derby on the city.The normal reaction of every right-thinking citizen would be to run in the opposite direction.

Sgt. Russell ran into harm’s way. He did his very best to stop the rampage before someone waiting at a bus stop, or heading to Tims for a coffee, ended up dead.“Ryan always put others before himself,” his amazingly strong widow, Christine, said at her husband’s funeral. “This cost him his life.”If you can’t understand why this death is different from a construction worker killed on a job site, or a woman waiting for a bus, you don’t understand the job of the police.Of course every death is significant to someone, but the job of the police is to maintain order in society for the benefit of all. As it says on their squad cars they “serve and protect.”Yes, they are well-paid. But what they do helps make Toronto a safe and great place to live.

Civil society needs the instruments of law and order, and needs them to be effective and trustworthy.No one gets a free run at a police officer. Period.Of course, the counter to that position is the G20 debacle.The burbling undercurrent around the funeral, where 12,500 police officers marched down University Ave. in an impressive, emotional show of unity, is that it’s a PR stunt to try and right the tarnished reputation of a force stained by irresponsibility and brutality on one weekend in June.There is absolutely no basis to mix one event with the other. Not a single officer or member of senior command that I heard made any mention of the G20 on Tuesday, or during the past week.

They are two separate issues.One can respect Sgt. Russell's sacrifice and still be concerned about some police actions at the G20.Far from being a “reputation fixer,” this was a typical police funeral — although bigger than we’ve ever seen in Toronto.That had to do with the particular circumstances of Sgt. Russell’s death. Every one of those officers knows it could have been them dead on the pavement last week.Officers showed up from as far away as Europe because they are a fraternity and they wanted to show support for Christine and her young son, Nolan, 2.On the money side, every Toronto officer who attended was off duty and not being paid.The convention centre only charged the police to recover its cost for the day, but took no profit.

The flowers were donated. The TTC lent buses.If you think that’s too big a dent on the city’s budget, I’ll cut the first cheque to pay down the cost myself.As for the media, yes, we provided blanket coverage. A phenomenal amount. Live on TV and the web, pages of newspaper content, blogs, tweets, photo galleries.That’s because it was an enormous news story. No one was forced to watch. If the coverage offended you, well, the Cartoon Network is always there to enrich your brain.By Tuesday night, I was emotionally drained. I can’t imagine how the Russell family feels.But, as Christine Russell said, “it is with Ryan’s courage and his bravery, and along with all of you, and all of your support, I am able to stand here.”For that reason alone, there was only honour in Tuesday’s funeral.

The Sgt's FINAL MOMENTS reviewed

Chris Doucette of the Toronto Sun reports: Sgt. Ryan Russell grazed the man accused of killing him with one of two bullets fired during the desperate moments before he was run over, sources said Wednesday.A built-in camera on Russell’s cruiser captured some of the frantic final seconds as the 52 Division sergeant fell and was then hit by a rampaging snowplow, leaving the 11-year veteran dead and a city scarred, sources confirmed.It all started shortly after 4 a.m. on Jan. 12, when a shoeless man hopped into the cab of an idling pickup truck outfitted with a plow, near Dundas and Parliament Sts., and drove off.For Ryan, the tragic morning started in a mundane fashion.

He stopped for a coffee — just before his shift was about to begin — when the call came about the stolen plow truck smashing into a posh auto dealership at Avenue and Davenport Rds.Responding to the call, the 11-year police veteran spotted the truck and got out of his cruiser.In what must have been a troubling sight, he noticed the driver standing near the pickup was barefoot in the snow.Russell approached, trying to speak with the man while holding his Taser but the driver jumped into the pickup and headed towards Russell, say sources.The officer managed to holster his stun gun and pull his sidearm.He slipped in the snow and lost his balance as the plow approached. But he managed to send one final desperate message over his two-way radio.He managed to fire two rounds during the incident.Richard Esber Kachkar, 44, originally of St. Catharines, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Ironically this photo was taken Jan 11th 2011, the day before. Sgt Ryan Russell will get killed the next day protecting me and you. A man was holed up in a standoff in a car at Toronto's Yonge Dundas Square and it was ended peacefully. R.I.P Ryan....