Abbotsford police mourn another loss
Police force, still mourning slain officer, reeling after teen dies following car crash
After spending time with the grieving family of slain Abbotsford police Const. John Davidson last week, deputy chief Mike Serr returned home feeling overwhelming anguish, but was comforted by the caring words of his 19- year- old son Aiden.
“On Tuesday, I came home emotionally exhausted after spending two very difficult days with Const. Davidson’s family. I was emotionally spent, and finally my armour cracked and I fell apart. My son picked me up, held me in his arms and told me he had my back and would give me strength. I will never forget that moment,” Serr said.
“The next day, I was able to walk out the door to be with Mrs. Davidson and her children, and to be their strength.”
Although only 19, Aiden Serr was a compassionate, selfless young man who cared about the underdog and always supported people in their time of need, Serr said.
On Monday, one week after Davidson was fatally shot in the line of duty, Aiden Serr was driving to his parents’ Maple Ridge home when his car flipped after skidding off a rain- soaked road. His devastated parents were able to say goodbye before their son died in hospital later that day.
“We just want our son’s story known so people know what an amazing man he was, full of so much promise and potential,” his mother Kirsten Urdahl- Serr said.
Aiden was a talented film and sciences student at Simon Fraser University, who went to Costa Rica on a National Geographic student expedition a few years ago and aspired to be a photographer. The car crash happened less than 10 min- utes away from his parents’ home, where he was headed after working on a film project with other students.
It is a double tragedy for the Abbotsford police, still reeling from last week’s shooting of Davidson, whose funeral is this Sunday. Now, the department’s 400 officers, staff and volunteers are also grieving the loss of the deputy chief’s promising young son, whose funeral will be Nov. 25.
We had two tragic losses together … We hope to heal and we hope to do that together.
As Serr supported the Davidsons last week, he received kind words from that family and their Abbotsford police colleagues this week.
“We had two tragic losses together,” Serr said. “We can’t let this destroy us. We want to honour John and Aiden. This will obviously leave a big hole in our hearts, but we hope to heal and we hope to do that together.”
Starting in Grade 3, Aiden began sticking up for children he thought were being treated unfairly at school.
That propensity to look out for the underdog continued into his years at Maple Ridge Secondary, when he and his best friend organized a school lacrosse team and filled it with an unlikely combination of girls and boys who didn’t get many chances on other teams.
“They took gold in provincials that year,” said Urdahl- Serr, a teacher at the school. “That team is still a legacy to this day in the school.”
His house hockey team finished in first place when he was 14. Captain Aiden skated onto the ice with his team to receive the banner.
“Usually the captain hoists the banner up, but Aiden skated to the back of the group to a boy who was our weakest player. He handed the banner to him and helped him skate around the ice with it,” recalled an emotional Serr, who coached the hockey team. “It was honestly, as a parent and a coach, one of the proudest days of my entire life.”
In 2015, at just 17, Aiden volunteered to work on the federal campaign of Pitt Meadows- Maple Ridge Liberal candidate Dan Ruimy. Aiden wore a Justin Trudeau T- shirt when Ruimy won, and planned to work on more campaigns, his mother said.
More recently, while at a coffee shop, Urdahl- Serr said she was a bit nervous when a rough- looking homeless man came inside. Her son reassured her and watched as the staff gave the man a free coffee.
“Aiden said that’s exactly the way it should be,” she recalled, weeping. “He taught me something that day. He taught me to love and accept everybody.”
Last week, Serr told his son he couldn’t have a drink of alcohol, wanting to remain clear- headed to help the Davidsons during their most difficult hours. The next day, he came home to find that his two children, Aiden and 21- year- old Kiana, had bought him a present — a bottle of Irish whiskey to enjoy when the time was right.
“He gave the bottle to me and gave me a hug. Not a lot of people have that much empathy at age 19,” Serr said. “I put that bottle away and there will be a special time when we drink it.”