I shall be reaching out to some local police officials today as I express my condolences about an event that has become all too common on roadways in Ontario.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree was among those expressing support and shock following the death of Constable Tarun Bali’s yesterday afternoon in the town of Hearst in Northern Ontario.
The O-P-P says the 29-year-old was struck and seriously injured by a motor vehicle as officers were conducting an
investigation and he later died. An 18-year-old man is in custody facing charges which include first-degree murder.
Tributes began pouring in on social media, including one posted on Facebook from the Belleville Police Service, which says they send their condolences to Bali’s family, friends and colleagues.
The death of an officer in the line of duty is always a tragedy, but this one strikes a very raw nerve.
Bali’s death also comes just over a month after the death of Northumberland OPP Sgt. Brandon Malcolm, who died in a motorcycle crash on the 401 in the Cobourg area.
Policing is an extremely dangerous line of work. It puts the officers in harm’s way on a regular basis, and a death of one is a new reminder that their story can easily end the same way in an instant.
Yesterday’s death of Constable Bali is also salt on the fresh wound of those mourning a loss that happened right in our own backyard in late April and a shock to the system of local officers who have barely started the process of grief and healing.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines
