I am posting this article from the Philadelphia Inquirere website, at
www.philly.com You wil lneed to set up a free account to read the story
there.

A devoted officer is laid to rest

Newtown Borough's Brian Gregg was recalled as modest and devoted to his
community.

By Leslie A. Pappas

Inquirer Staff Writer

Forming a mile-long ribbon of glittering reds, yellows and blues, a police
motorcade snaked through the misty borough of Newtown yesterday afternoon,
its lights flashing but sirens silent.
The procession followed a funeral service that drew hundreds of Newtown,
Bucks County, residents and thousands of police officers from at least five
Pennsylvania counties and three neighboring states. They came to honor slain
Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian S. Gregg, who was killed in the line of
duty last month.
The viewing at St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church began at 8 a.m. By 8:30,
more than 300 people, most in uniform, lined up outside the church on Swamp
Road.
Mourners remembered Gregg as an unassuming hero, a small-town cop who handed
out lollipops to children and yelled "hello" from across the street.
"He was not just a cop. We knew him by name," said Nicole Dost, one of about
20 employees from the First National Bank in Newtown who attended the
funeral. The bank had closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Gregg's honor.
The bank employees remembered his grin, his jokes, and his nonstop talk
about wife Kellann and 4-year-old son Kyle, whom the couple had adopted from
Guatemala.
Gregg, 46, was devoted to his work, learning everyone's name and maintaining
a constant presence about town.
He was also modest, said bank employee Jeannette Deithorn as she looked
across the church lawn at the thousands of people gathered. "I could just
see him now, [saying] 'All this for me?' "
Barbara Swanda, a borough resident who was handing out homemade purple lapel
ribbons before the service, said Gregg was a problem-solver who was quick to
help families behind the scenes and one-on-one.
"There's this bevy of personal stories that keep coming out," she said. "He
was making such an impact on people in the borough."
Born in Bristol Borough and raised in Levittown, Gregg graduated from
Woodrow Wilson High School and Bucks County Community College. For 15 years,
he ran his own business as a building contractor but dreamed of police work.
"He just always wanted to be a cop," said Bensalem Police Detective Andrew
Aninsman, who met Gregg six years ago while he was doing construction work
on Aninsman's neighbor's house. For six months, Gregg talked mostly about
two things: adopting a son and joining the police force, Aninsman said. "He
achieved his mission. It was what he wanted to do."
Gregg graduated from Temple University Police Academy in 2002. He became a
part-time Newtown officer in 2003 and a full-time officer on Oct. 1, 2004.
Rachael Sauers, a Bristol Township resident who knew Gregg since his
childhood and taught him in Sunday school, said Gregg was thrilled to have
found a job in Newtown.
She remembers him saying, "Probably the toughest thing I'll run into is
giving somebody a parking ticket."
On Sept. 29, Gregg and fellow officer James Warunek, 31, had taken a man
arrested for drunken driving to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown for
toxicology tests. After his handcuffs were removed during the tests, the
driver, Robert Anthony Flor, 38, of Bedminster, grabbed Warunek's gun and
fired five times, killing Gregg and wounding Warunek and medical technician
Joseph Epp, according to police.
Epp, wrapped in bandages and in a wheelchair, came to the viewing yesterday
along with several dozen medical workers in blue scrubs.
Flor is being held without bail at Bucks County prison on
first-degree-murder and other charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled
for Nov. 3 in Levittown.
On the day of the shooting, Bucks County Children and Youth Services, which
has custody of Flor's 2-year-old daughter, filed a support case against him,
court records show.
After yesterday's service, Gregg's casket was followed out of the church by
the Newtown police force, many in tears, and a dozen friends and relatives
dressed in black.
To the sound of bagpipes, his casket was lifted into a gray carriage, built
in 1900, drawn by two dark horses to Newtown Cemetery.
It took more than an hour for the long funeral procession to travel less
than a mile to the gravesite.
Under a cloud-heavy sky, Newtown residents watched police cars file past.
As hundreds of officers stood at attention at the cemetery, a bugle played
Taps. Bagpipes sighed a mournful "Amazing Grace." At 2:50 p.m., a voice came
over speakers and police radios, clearing the air for a special
announcement.
"Bucks County Radio to 5103," Gregg's badge number, the dispatcher said,
repeating the call three times.
After a moment of silence, the dispatcher announced Gregg's death.
"Unit 5103 and badge number 5103 are out of service," the voice said. "They
shall not respond again."