RCMP Officer's Funeral

Mar. 5, 2004. 02:43 PM
Police pay tribute to slain Mountie

BY JULIA NECHEFF
CANADIAN PRESS

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. - Hundreds of scarlet-clad Mounties, a pipe band and police dogs and handlers from across Canada marched four abreast to a church today for the funeral of an RCMP corporal killed in the line of duty.

About 2,000 people, including Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and RCMP Commissioner Guiliano Zaccardelli, packed the Sherwood Park Alliance Church to honour the memory of Jim Galloway.

"For us, it's a day to show respect for Jim," said RCMP Cpl. Grant Hignell, a dog handler with the Sherwood Park detachment, east of Edmonton, where Galloway was stationed.

"Police officers across the country are pretty close knit. In the dog section it's even more so."

Galloway's dog, Cito, was to be allowed inside the church as part of the honour guard.

Mounties from across the country along with their counterparts from Hamilton, Toronto and the Ontario Provincial Police endured frigid winds and sub-zero temperatures during the ceremony.

They were joined by officers from Alberta police services along with customs and conservation officers.

Alberta Justice Minister Dave Hancock and Solicitor General Heather Forsyth were to attend to represent the province.

Galloway, 55, was part of an RCMP emergency response team when he died during a standoff with an armed man last Saturday in the town of Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton.

Gunfire erupted when the armed man tried to leave his home, RCMP say. Galloway was hit by a single bullet in the back. The suspect, 41-year-old Martin Ostopovich, was also killed.

Ostopovich suffered from schizophrenia and was reportedly not taking his medication at the time of the standoff.

Galloway, who headed the dog section for northern Alberta's RCMP K Division, joined the force in 1969 and had been a dog handler with the Mounties since 1975.

He helped organize and manage an RCMP civilian search dog service for Alberta and also belonged to a northern Alberta wilderness search and rescue group.

Const. Wade Dargatz, an RCMP dog handler from Prince Rupert, B.C., said he joined the canine unit out of training because of Galloway.

"I worked with him the first day and I figured 'O.K., that's what I want to do. I want to do what Jim does.'

"I can thank him for getting me on this track."