Formal procession for Calgary police officer killed in the line of duty

CALGARY — Civilians and first responders lined a major Calgary thoroughfare to watch as police vehicles escorted the remains of a fallen comrade across the city in a formal procession. 

Calgary police Sgt. Andrew Harnett was hit and dragged during a traffic stop on New Year’s Eve and died shortly after in hospital. 

A police live stream Tuesday showed officers placing Harnett’s casket, which was draped in a Canadian flag, in the back of a police funeral coach outside the medical examiner’s office. 

More than a dozen other police vehicles accompanied the coach to a funeral home on the edge of the city in a journey that lasted about an hour. 

Police, paramedics, firefighters and Mounties in Red Serge were among the uniformed first responders who saluted along the road as the procession passed.

Two fire trucks on an overpass hung a big Canadian flag between them from extended ladders. 

Many civilians watched from sidewalks and pedestrian overpasses, and at different points along the route a blue heart and “RIP” were drawn in the snow. 

Harnett, 37, spent a dozen years with the Calgary Police Service and his family said he had been looking forward to becoming a father this summer.

A 17-year-old who police believe was driving the SUV on New Year’s Eve and an alleged passenger, 19-year-old Amir Abdulrahman, are charged with first-degree murder in Harnett’s death. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2021. 

The Canadian Press