UXBRIDGE, Mass — In Uxbridge, a procession brought fallen Police Officer Stephen LaPorta to the police station for the last time on Friday.
Here, the officer’s grief-stricken family, including his wife and their 13-year-old son, gathered to greet him as they begin the painful process of saying goodbye.
Officer Stephen LaPorta made his last call Wednesday night to icy Route 146 to help a motorist stuck on the ice-covered highway.
Officer LaPorta was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer truck.
Now, days later, this community gathers to honor a hero’s ultimate sacrifice.
“Some of the officers, they come through if we are out walking, they always they always wave,” remembered Uxbridge resident Bob Contursi.
“They are out her risking their lives every day. And it’s important that we show them that we are behind them as a community, Tracy Braun of Uxbridge added.
And it is this community of Uxbridge that is showing its appreciation, great and small in so many ways,
“It is just for support, that’s all,” Susan Burke said as she and fellow Uxbridge Resident Robin Desruisseaux tied blue ribbons around telephone poles near the police station. “It’s a small ribbon but it means a lot. Small things are big things.”
Now, as Officer LaPorta’s procession moves on from Uxbridge, it leaves behind a family, a community that will never forget.
“The community is coming together to support the family and the fire department, the police department, it’s all we can do,” said Kim Demers.
Final funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
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