Local police, firefighters, EMS and residents lined Main Road in Riverhead Wednesday night to pay respects to slain NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen of Calverton, whose body was brought from New York City to DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck escorted by dozens of police and emergency services vehicles.
Riverhead and Rocky Point fire department ladder trucks made an arch across the roadway just west of County Road 105 for the display of a large American flag.
The procession of vehicles passed under the flag at about 8 p.m.
Simonsen, 43, was fatally shot Tuesday evening when he and a partner responded to a call of a gunpoint robbery on 120th Street in Richmond Hill. See prior story.
The Calverton resident was a 19-year veteran of NYPD. He grew up in South Jamesport and was a 1995 graduate of Riverhead High School.
Simonsen’s family will receive friends on Monday, Feb. 18 from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Tuesday, Feb. 19 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Saint Rosalie Roman Catholic Church, 31 East Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated there on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at Jamesport Cemetery.
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