Mourners line street at procession
Thousands of people lined Pike Street in Canonsburg and Houston to mourn the loss of Canonsburg police Officer Scott Bashioum.
Pennsylvania State Police motorcycle officers drive on Pike Street during Officer Scott Bashioum’s funeral procession.
Hundreds of police vehicles drive along Pike Street in Canonsburg as part of the procession for Officer Scott Bashioum.
Community members hold flags to show their support as Officer Scott Bashioum’s funeral procession moves along Pike Street in Canonsburg.
Community members honor Officer Scott Bashioum as his funeral procession moves through Canonsburg Wednesday.
The hearse carrying Officer Scott Bashioum’s casket is driven underneath a flag in front of the Canonsburg borough building on Pike Street.
CANONSBURG – A police officer passed Marcia Masi with a tear in his eye Wednesday, and she said the sight broke her heart during the funeral procession through Canonsburg for fallen police Officer Scott Bashioum.
“We come together all of the time for celebrations, death and mourning,” Masi said, describing her tight-knit hometown where Bashioum worked and died in an ambush Thursday.
“The police, it’s like they’re family. They take care of us,” Masi said. “I don’t ever want to leave here.”
The 14-mile procession from Church of the Covenant in Washington, where services were held for Bashioum, detoured through downtown Canonsburg en route to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil Township, the officer’s final resting place.
Most of the police units were from Southwestern Pennsylvania, while some departments drove from Ohio and West Virginia, and from as far away as Colorado and Texas, to join the 50-minute funeral procession. Many police officers in cruisers were using their smartphones to livestream video of the thousands of people who lined the street.
The procession through Canonsburg was led by a flyover of a U.S. Air Force C-130 airplane because Bashioum was retired from that branch of service, said District Judge David Mark.
“Scotty probably flew in that plane,” Mark said before a long line of police officers on motorcycles led a seemingly endless line of police cruisers, specialized vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances along Pike Street. A Slovan fire truck led the firefighter units because Bashioum was a longtime volunteer with that fire department.
Nearby, a small group of women whose husbands are local police officers stood with a black and white American flag bearing a thin blue line to honor Bashioum.
“This hit so close to home,” said Chelsea Kanotz of Strabane, whose husband, Scott, is a police officer in Mt. Pleasant and Peters townships.
“It’s wonderful to see all of these supporters out here for our husbands,” said Kanotz, whose husband was in the procession.
“It’s amazing how quickly a turn of events can happen for police,” added Joanna Smaracheck of Belle Vernon, whose husband, Jeffrey, is a police officer in Monessen.
“Every time he walks out the door, we don’t know if he’s coming home,” Smaracheck said.
“The ‘what if’ is what keeps them living in fear,” said Starlene Hoffman of Canonsburg, whose husband, Ryan, is a South Strabane police officer.