Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Nearly two months after he was shot and killed while serving a homicide warrant, a Philadelphia police officer was laid to rest Friday in a funeral service that was greatly modified because of the coronavirus pandemic.
James O’Connor, 46, was a corporal at the time of his March 13 death but was posthumously promoted to sergeant. He was a police officer for 23 years and had served with the SWAT unit for 15 years.
Only a limited number of people were allowed inside Our Lady of Calvary church for his funeral service, mainly his immediate family and some fellow officers, while dozens of other officers and police vehicles lined the street outside, waiting to pay their respects.
Most of those inside the church had to sit on the opposite ends of the pews, and all had to wear masks. Among those speaking at the service was Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, along with O’Connor’s son, who also serves on the city’s police force.
“This is not the way we wanted to say goodbye to my father. It’s just not fair. When the time is right, we will give my dad a proper sendoff,” said his son James “Jimmy” O’Connor V.
Outlaw awarded O’Connor the department’s Medal of Honor, a Purple Heart, and the Medal of Valor. She hugged O’Connor’s wife, Terri, while presenting her the Medal of Honor, and said the two other commendations had been pinned to the uniform in which O’Connor was to be buried.
As the funeral concluded, O’Connor’s casket — draped in an American flag — was carried outside by uniformed officers to an awaiting police caravan while other officers saluted their fallen comrade.
O’Connor was shot in the arm and in the shoulder above his bulletproof vest when officers entered a home in the city’s Frankford section March 13. He was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead there a short time later.
Three arrests have been made in connection with O’Connor’s killing, including the man who was wanted on the homicide warrant the SWAT team was serving.