Russell family on vacation
Slain Toronto Police officer Sgt. Ryan Russell, who died after being struck by the snowplow in the Avenue Rd. and Dupont St. area, is the first police officer to die in the line of duty in almost ten years.
Const. Laura Ellis, died in 2002 after she and her partner’s cruiser collided with another car on their way to responding to a break-and-enter call. Since then, however, there have been no police deaths in the line of duty, until Wednesday, January 12 2011.
The eight-year gap between Ellis and Russell’s death can be seen as a good thing. According to Statistics Canada, between 1961 and 2009, 133 police officers were murdered in the line of duty–including eight double, one triple and one quadruple-slaying.
The manner in which Russell and Ellis met their deaths is different as well, because police officers killed in the line of duty were almost invariably shot to death. Statistics Canada mentions that, between the same timeframe mentioned above, 92% of all officer-related killings were committed with a firearm.
Russell’s death has prompted a wave of condolences from the city of Toronto, from groups on Facebook to the rising popularity of the hash tag #7686, Russell’s badge number, on Twitter. His funeral was hundreds of Torontonians on Monday.
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