TORONTO – The hearse carrying Sgt. Ryan Russell’s casket to today’s memorial service is slowly moving through the streets of Toronto.
A pipe and drum band are leading the motorcade.
Earlier, as many as 8,000 officers in full dress uniform from across Canada and the United States began the march to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the 1 p.m. service.
As many as 10,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony for the married father who was run down by a stolen snowplow last week.
Hundreds of members of the public are lining the downtown procession route.
Russell, father of a two-year-old son, was killed last Wednesday as he tried to stop a stolen snowplow that led police on a wild chase through Toronto streets.
At the front of the huge convention hall above a display of plush bears and between several bouquets, there are photographs of Russell with his wife Christine and infant son.
In front of one picture of baby Nolan, now two years old, is a small floral arrangement, with a white ribbon across it. On the band is just one word in gold letters: Daddy.
Officers gave each other hugs this morning at 52 Division, where members of the guns and gangs task force – Russell’s old unit – also gathered.
Const. Brenda MacIntosh, of Cornwall police, said she came to support the police "brotherhood" in a time of grief.
"It’s a culture in its own," she said. "We all feel that we’re part of one big family…It’s overwhelming to see the sea of officers that are here. It’s very important for the family that they get to see how we feel, that we are grieving as well."
Ontario Lt.-Gov. David Onley, Vaughan MP Julian Fantino, police Chief Bill Blair and Russell’s widow are among those who are scheduled speak at the service.
Canadian tenor John McDermott will perform "Wind Beneath My Wings."
About 2,000 seats have been set aside in the cavernous hall for members of the public who want to attend the service.
The service will be broadcast on the big screen at the mid-town Yonge and Dundas Square and outside the Air Canada Centre.
Several dozen people, many of them families of police officers, are lined up outside the convention centre awaiting the funeral service.
Justine Olmstead, a 24-year-old Humber College police student, who is among them says the tragedy has not deterred her from wanting to join the police force. If fact she is even more encouraged to do so.
"It’s brought a lot of joy to me to see how Toronto shows so much respect for the police force," says Olmstead.
"This could be me one day. Hopefully I would have the same respect shown back to me."
Karen Harrison, of Toronto, said her grandfather was a police officer.
Russell was an "inspiration" through his "courageous service," Harrison said.
Others, like Ashley Emond, whose brother is a Toronto police officer, echoed the sentiment.
"It’s nice just to show my respects and be supportive of him and the rest of the police officers," Emond said.
A 44-year-old drifter, Richard Kachkar, who was shot and seriously injured by police when arrested, faces first-degree murder charges and was expected in court Friday for a bail hearing.
Toronto police said Tuesday that Kachkar is out of hospital and being held at a Milton, Ont., detention centre.
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