Why Did The Sergeant Die?

I watched part of Steve Paikin's program “The Agenda” .last night. The topic was the funeral of Police Sergeant Russel of the Toronto Dept. The question “ was the funeral excessive.”?

I listened for a bit. Not because the question was relevant. I wanted to see if they would discuss why a young man of thirty-two years of age, with a wife and a two year-old son was dead. How did it happen?

Didn't sound like they were going to touch on it so I turned to something else.

It's been more than a week now. I still haven't heard anyone, not the Mayor,,not the Police Chief, not the media talk about why?

They had the usual things to say about the hazards and heroism of a being a policeman, how much

society owes them . Seventeen thousand people turned out to pay their respects, Probably very impressive in their uniformed strength.

Every media outlet on the boob tube had something to say about the tragedy.

But nobody asked why.

We know something about the individual charged with first degree murder because the sergeant was a police officer.

We are told he is a homeless man. Had been staying in a shelter. He was out on the street in his bare feet in a deep freeze in the middle of the night and came across an unattended snow plow idling in a parking lot.

He apparently jumped into it and careened down the street smashing into parked vehicles

like a crazed individual.

We know he was unemployed . Had lost a wife and family. Had taken a government sponsored

training course to drive heavy trucks and equipment like snow plows We know he failed

the driving course. He did not have the ability.

Now he is in hospital in critical condition with bullet wounds. Seems he was shot at by several officers. . But not Sergeant Russell . Sergeant Russell was dead.

They say the Sergeant was run over by the snow plow. They say he was running after the snow plow. They say the snow plow was stopped by being hemmed in by more than one police car

Then the bullets started to fly..

They don't say how Sergeant Russell was run over by a snow plow he was chasing..

It seems no-one saw it happen. And nobody talks about why a young man of thirty-two years old had to die, leaving a young wife and a two year old son and a heart-broken family.

A pitiful crazed individual ,out in the middle of the night. from a men's homeless shelter,in his bare feet in sub zero temperatures jumped into an idling snow plow and careened down the street smashing into parked vehicles.

He is charged with first degree murder because the person he is said to have killed is a police officer.

If he dies at the hands of the police ,there will be a Special Investigative Unit inquiry to determine how that happened...

Maybe then we will discover how Sergeant Russel came to be run over by a snow plow he was chasing.