Police honor fallen Brooklyn officer with emotional procession through southern Illinois
Police departments throughout southern Illinois sent officers to the Madison County morgue in Wood River on Friday to honor Brooklyn patrolman Brian Pierce Jr. and accompany his body to a funeral home in Herrin.
Pierce, 24, of Carbondale, was killed in the line of duty Wednesday on the McKinley Bridge.
Brooklyn Police Chief Tom Jeffery was clearly moved by the showing of law enforcement on Friday outside the morgue, which is located at the old Wood River hospital.
“We support our fallen officers, our brothers and sisters,” he said with emotion in his voice. “It doesn’t matter what badge you’re wearing.”
About 75 men and women, most in uniform, stood at attention and saluted as a garage door in back of the morgue went up just after 11 a.m. Friday. Officials wheeled out Pierce’s body, which was draped with an American flag, and slid it into a black hearse.
Dozens of police vehicles then formed a procession behind the hearse, flashing red and blue lights as they headed southeast on Edwardsville Road and Illinois 143 toward the Interstate 255 ramp.
Hundreds of people lined the road, largely watching in silence. Some displayed signs or held hands over their hearts. Trickey’s towing service parked two trucks next to the sidewalk with American flags mounted on the front and yellow caution lights flashing.
“I’m here to show understanding and respect,” said Julia Campbell, 35, of Pontoon Beach, whose husband, Dustin, is a police officer. “I know it’s a dangerous job, and there’s always a fear that your loved one won’t come home.”
Campbell was holding a “thin blue line” American flag with her 6-year-old twin sons, Colton and Cooper. Colton wore a police ball cap and kid-size black combat-training vest.
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Across the road, Zak King was sitting on a truck tailgate with his mother, Tina, and brother, Luke, 11.
“I’m here to honor the local law enforcement officer who lost his life,” said Zak, 15, of Rosewood Heights (East Alton), who was wearing a T-shirt with a “Back the Blue” insignia.
Zak dreams of becoming a police officer someday.
Next to the Kings were Deanna Schewe and her 4-year-old granddaughter, Lylah McCray, who was sitting on a blanket waiting for the “parade.” Schewe wants her to learn early that life is precious.
“Death is sad, and you never know when it’s going to happen,” Schewe said. “And with him being a police officer ... It’s just sad. Everybody just needs to get along and love each other.”
Pierce was hit and killed by a red Dodge Charger around 3 a.m. Wednesday on the McKinley Bridge going toward St. Louis, according to the Illinois State Police. He was trying to deploy stop sticks to flatten the tires of a car that fled earlier from a metro-east nightclub.
Pierce commuted more than 100 miles from Carbondale for the job in Brooklyn.
Law enforcement gathered outside the morgue Friday included Cambria Police Chief Phillip Boss. He was a mentor to Pierce, who had grown up in Elkville before his family moved to Makanda.
“When I got that phone call (about Pierce’s death), you wouldn’t believe how hard it hit me,” Boss said. “This is my third day off. I’m being strong about it right now, but I’m sick to my stomach.”
Boss was serving as Dow police chief in the early 2010s, when 15-year-old Pierce started “pestering” him about going into law enforcement. Boss helped Pierce get a job as a security officer at University Mall in Carbondale while he was attending college.
Pierce had started working less than a year ago for Brooklyn Police Department, which offered to send him to police academy for training.
“(Pierce) had just recently got a job in Indiana,” Boss said. “He had an apartment there, and he was finishing up what he had to do here. ... He was a full-blown first responder, EMT, the whole works. He loved it.”
Pierce’s arrangements are being handled by Meredith-Waddell Funeral Home in Herrin. His obituary wasn’t yet listed on its website as of mid-afternoon Friday.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 3:56 PM.
