Shelton Police gathered at Shelton High School on Monday night, united by the loss of one of their own, to pay their respects to Sgt. Orville Smith, who was killed last week by a suspected drunken driver. On Tuesday, almost 2000 people gathered again for his funeral.
“To go back to work or be in the town without him there is going to be very hard for everybody, not just police, the whole community,” Debbie Russo, a dispatcher from the Shelton Police Department said.
Shelton police are still trying to make sense of the incident that took Sgt. Smith's life. He was assisting with traffic control along Route 110 when a pickup driven by Bruce Knapik, 63, struck him, police said.
Sgt. Smith was a 39-year veteran of the Shelton Police Department, a Marine Corps veteran and served with the White Hills Fire Department. He was a dedicated member of the Shelton community.
The dozens of people who attended his wake show that he will be greatly missed.
"It really hasn’t sunk in for us, and we’ve just been trying to make this the best event, because one thing that Sgt. Smith loved, he loved police. He loved being a police officer. He, himself, personally, would try to go to any of these events if an officer died in the line of duty and there was a wake or funeral. So we just tried to make this event as perfect as possible," Shelton Police Sgt. Robert Kozlowsky said on Monday night.
"He was an awesome, jolly, good-hearted person. He wasn’t your typical police officer. Like they always say, he wore his heart on his sleeve," Tonya Cooper, of Shelton, said.
Sgt. Smith's funeral services were be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Shelton High School. Officers from several states attended and Stamford Police covered the Shelton Police Department, so that all officers can attend the service.
Sgt. Smith will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
