WINGHAM, Ont. - The partner of a slain OPP officer says his colleague helped him to live through a Huron County shootout Monday.
In a powerful address to thousands of police officers gathered for Const. Vu Pham’s funeral here Friday, fellow OPP Const. Dell Mercey said Pham’s spirit gave him the courage and strength to keep going.
“I was sure that I would die that day. He (Pham) stood beside me and I didn’t die that day because Vu Pham saved my life,” the OPP officer said.
Pham was mortally shot after pulling over a white pickup truck Monday along a rural road near Seaforth, Ont., in Huron County.
Mercey was the OPP officer who exchanged gunfire with the shooting suspect, 70-year-old Fred Preston, after Pham was incapacitated.
Mercey told mourners - an estimated 8,000 have gathered, filling the town arena, an overflow tent and a large area nearby - that Vu’s life had purpose “His purpose was to be a dad, a partner, a husband. His purpose was to be devoted to God,” Mercey said of the 15-year OPP veteran, a Vietnamese immigrant who found new life in Canada.
