NEW YORK - The city paid homage Sunday to the second of two auxiliary police officers killed in a Greenwich Village shootout, a 19-year-old college student whose funeral with full police honors was all the more heartbreaking in light of his youth.
“I hear America singing, I hear America singing” said the Police Department's Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Alvin Kass, quoting Walt Whitman. “But the last three days since we heard about the tragic and untimely passing of two outstanding auxiliary police officers, New York City has been crying in a bitter and anguished lament because two such special people have been taken from our midst.”
Bagpipes skirled and hundreds of uniformed officers from around the region stood at attention outside the Brooklyn funeral home as the body of Eugene Marshalik was lifted into a hearse, his casket covered with the NYPD's blue, green and white flag.
Marshalik and his partner, Nicholas Todd Pekearo, 28, were killed on Wednesday in a confrontation with gunman David Garvin as he tried to escape after killing a bartender in a Greenwich Village restaurant. Other officers then killed Garvin.
Pekearo and Marshalik were members of the city's force of 4,500 part-time auxiliary officers, who provide an extra uniformed police presence but do not carry weapons.
Although neither of the volunteer patrolmen was armed, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited them with preventing further mayhem.
“Their courage in the face of danger ensured that countless others who were in the crowded neighborhood that night would remain safe,” Kelly said during the service at the I.J. Morris Funeral Home. “People are alive today because of the actions of Eugene and his partner.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that Marshalik, a sophomore at New York University, “loved to cruise around town on his bike and listen to Pink Floyd and watch ‘The Simpsons' and eat every Oreo cookie in sight just like everybody else his age who has a chance to express themselves.”
Addressing the teenager's parents, who emigrated with their children from Russia 14 years ago, Bloomberg said, “Here you come from the other side of the world for what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world and yet some bad person takes your son's life. But you can't blame America, blame New York, blame the world. Sadly there are bad people, and we just have to continue to make this world better.”
Kass noted that Marshalik was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School when he witnessed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center a few blocks away.
“I know that that event deeply impressed itself on Eugene's consciousness and undoubtedly played a role in his own personal decision to do something which would make a difference in the lives of the people in this city,” he said. “His days here on Earth were cruelly and abruptly terminated. But his spirit will live. It will live in the heart of every police officer, every auxiliary police officer, every decent citizen.”
Marshalik's younger brother, Max, recalled snowball fights and watching “Pokemon” with his brother.
“I've looked up to my brother ever since I was born,” Max said. “He seemed to know everything. How to fix the VCR and the computer, which car my dad should buy. Directions to anywhere and everywhere. ... I love you so much, Eugene. We all love you. And we will miss you.”
Two police buglers played “Taps,” and five helicopters flew overhead, a repeat of the ceremony held the day before for Pekearo.
Bagpipes skirled and hundreds of uniformed officers from around the region stood at attention outside the Brooklyn funeral home as the body of Eugene Marshalik was lifted into a hearse, his casket covered with the NYPD's blue, green and white flag.
Marshalik and his partner, Nicholas Todd Pekearo, 28, were killed on Wednesday in a confrontation with gunman David Garvin as he tried to escape after killing a bartender in a Greenwich Village restaurant. Other officers then killed Garvin.
Pekearo and Marshalik were members of the city's force of 4,500 part-time auxiliary officers, who provide an extra uniformed police presence but do not carry weapons.
Although neither of the volunteer patrolmen was armed, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited them with preventing further mayhem.
“Their courage in the face of danger ensured that countless others who were in the crowded neighborhood that night would remain safe,” Kelly said during the service at the I.J. Morris Funeral Home. “People are alive today because of the actions of Eugene and his partner.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that Marshalik, a sophomore at New York University, “loved to cruise around town on his bike and listen to Pink Floyd and watch ‘The Simpsons' and eat every Oreo cookie in sight just like everybody else his age who has a chance to express themselves.”
Addressing the teenager's parents, who emigrated with their children from Russia 14 years ago, Bloomberg said, “Here you come from the other side of the world for what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world and yet some bad person takes your son's life. But you can't blame America, blame New York, blame the world. Sadly there are bad people, and we just have to continue to make this world better.”
Kass noted that Marshalik was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School when he witnessed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center a few blocks away.
“I know that that event deeply impressed itself on Eugene's consciousness and undoubtedly played a role in his own personal decision to do something which would make a difference in the lives of the people in this city,” he said. “His days here on Earth were cruelly and abruptly terminated. But his spirit will live. It will live in the heart of every police officer, every auxiliary police officer, every decent citizen.”
Marshalik's younger brother, Max, recalled snowball fights and watching “Pokemon” with his brother.
“I've looked up to my brother ever since I was born,” Max said. “He seemed to know everything. How to fix the VCR and the computer, which car my dad should buy. Directions to anywhere and everywhere. ... I love you so much, Eugene. We all love you. And we will miss you.”
Two police buglers played “Taps,” and five helicopters flew overhead, a repeat of the ceremony held the day before for Pekearo.
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