Philly officer killed in crash mourned

November 24, 2008 04:07 AM

Members of the Philadelphia Police department attend the funeral mass for fallen Philadelphia Police Sgt. Timothy Simpson. For the third time in less than three months, police officers poured into a downtown cathedral to remember a colleague slain in the line of duty, this time a veteran sergeant killed when his cruiser was hit by a man allegedly fleeing police. (AP Photo)

By Melissa Dribben
Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — The white tent was set up, once again, outside the John F. Givnish Funeral Home in the Northeast last night to shelter friends, relatives, and fellow police officers as they lined up to pay respects to fallen police Sgt. Timothy Simpson.

Simpson, 46, who celebrated his 20th year on the force on Nov. 14, was killed four days later in a car crash while responding to a robbery call. His cruiser was slammed on the passenger side by a Chevrolet Camaro driven, according to police, by a fugitive with a long history of drug use, William Foster, 41, of Levittown.

It was the fourth time this year the city has mourned a police officer killed in the line of duty, including Simpson’s former partner, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, who was gunned down in May after a bank robbery.

By chance, it was also the fourth time this year that Givnish was the site of a police viewing.

A second viewing and the Funeral Mass were set for this morning at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, 18th Street and the Parkway.

At Givnish, once again, a slide show of photographs spanning an officer’s life appeared on a large screen. Here was Simpson as a toddler. Monkeying around for the camera as a teenager. On the front steps, gathered with his siblings. Cradling his red-headed twin babies in his steady arms. A picture of Simpson, looking tidy and obedient, flashed by and a woman in the line of mourners sighed, smiling, “Now, that’s how I remember him.”

Inside the funeral home, surrounded by exuberant wreaths of red and orange spider chrysanthemums, red roses and yellow ribbons, well-wishers filed past the casket where Simpson lay, a black rosary entwined in his fingers. Officers saluted. Friends wept. And his wife and three children stood to one side, accepting hugs and condolences.

Outside, gathered under heat lamps, the city’s police force seemed stunned by the relentlessness of this barrage of grief. Retired cops, undercover cops and uniformed cops with white-gloved hands wrapped around steaming cups of coffee traded stories about the officer they all knew as Teddy.

“He was awesome,” said Jim Coolen, who worked with Simpson in the early 1990s in narcotics. Simpson had a reputation as a great practical joker, Coolen said. If he’d ever been the butt of one, he couldn’t recall. “Teddy probably pulled most of them on McNesby,” he said. That would be John McNesby, Simpson’s former partner and current president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Lt. Paul Watson of the Training Bureau, the police division charged with organizing the funeral arrangements in conjunction with the families, said there had been so many lately the work had almost become routine.

“It’s scary,” Watson said. “We had a staff meeting the other day to plan the funeral, and we almost didn’t need to have it.”

Police have said the driver who crashed into Simpson was being chased by another patrol car after running a red light. The impact spun the cruiser into a building. Rescuers worked furiously to pull the officer from his mangled squad car, as well as the two civilians in the other vehicle, which had hammered into a light pole. Simpson had just been named superintendent of the month by his commanding officer in the 24th District.

“It’s been a very difficult year,” Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said outside the funeral home last night. Ramsey said he was profoundly sad for Simpson’s family and the fallen man’s fellow officers in the 24th District, who have now lost two gifted leaders. “What do you say to them?” he asked, shaking his head. “We’re all professionals. We don’t have the luxury of shutting down.”