Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Second unarmed officer mourned

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 19, 2007

NEW YORK - The city paid homage Sunday to the second of two unarmed auxiliary police officers killed by a gunman in the street, with officials saying he saved lives even as he died.

Bagpipes skirled and hundreds of uniformed police officers from around the region stood at attention outside a Brooklyn funeral home as the body of Eugene Marshalik was lifted into a hearse and the casket was covered with the New York Police Department's blue, green and white flag.

"New York City has been crying a bitter and anguished lament because two such special young people have been taken from our midst," said Rabbi Alvin Kass.

Marshalik, 19, and partner Nicholas Todd Pekearo, 28, were killed Wednesday in a confrontation with gunman David Garvin, who was trying to escape after killing a bartender in a Greenwich Village restaurant. Other officers then killed Garvin.

Pekearo and Marshalik were members of the city's force of 4,500 part-time auxiliary officers, who provide extra uniformed police presence but do not carry weapons.

Although neither of the volunteer patrolmen was armed, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said they had prevented additional mayhem in the streets. "People are alive today because of the actions of Eugene and his partner," Kelly said outside the funeral home.

A ceremony was held Saturday for Pekearo.

[Last modified March 19, 2007, 01:24:21]