Scores of county officials to attend slain trooper’s funeral

Scores of law enforcement officers from Chester County are attending the funeral today for Cpl. Stephen Ballard, the Delaware State Police trooper gunned down last week outside a Wawa in northern Delaware.

“It’s important to show our unity for a fallen police officer,” said Gerald Simpson, chief of the Southern Chester County Regional Police Department, who is leading a contingent of officers to the funeral Friday morning. “But being there is

also important for the survivors, and to let everyone know we have each other’s backs as we face these deadly encounters in our society today.”

Simpson, who served for 24 years as a police officer in the Newark, Del., police department, said it’s likely every state in the nation will send a representative from a police department to the funeral.

“State police have a unique fraternity, and when an officer is killed in

the line of duty, every state will send a person to the service,” Simpson said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone from Alaska patrol.”

A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Members of the public wishing to pay respects to Ballard’s family can do so from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., and immediately following, uniformed emergency services personnel will pay respects.

All lanes of I-95 north between the Christiana Mall and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will be

closed beginning at 6 a.m. Friday and will reopen after the procession of emergency vehicles travel to the Chase Center.

Ballard, 32, was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious vehicle at a gas station on Pulaski Highway in Bear, Del. He made contact with two people he observed in a vehicle, at which point one of the men began struggling with the officer. The man pushed Cpl. Ballard away from him and began to run. After taking several steps, he turned and opened fire on Ballard, wounding the trooper. The man then chased Ballard as the officer sought cover

behind a vehicle. The man shot him several times, including several times after Ballard fell to the ground.

Responding officers apprehended one of the suspects at the scene. The second, later identified as Burgon Sealy Jr., fled to his home where he barricaded himself inside. After a daylong standoff, Sealy Jr. exited his home and opened fire on officers, who returned fire, killing him.

Pete Mango, a former East Fallowfield police chief and who now owns Signal 88 Security of Octorara, said law enforcement officers can never feel safe in today’s environment.

“Most of us (police officers) frequent Wawa all the time,” Mango said. “We don’t see it as a potential place of violence, but the reality is there is no place safe. We support our brothers in blue who are impacted by the death of one of their own.”

Simpson, whose son works as a police officer in Delaware , said officers are trained now to never be complacent.

“How does this happen in broad daylight, in a parking lot at lunchtime at Wawa?” Simpson wondered. “They (police officers) probably go there a hundred times a month

to get a cup of coffee. Bad things happen in wonderful communities, and it’s such a tragedy that this young trooper lost his life in that kind of circumstance. It’s very sad.”

The funeral procession will depart the Chase Center at noon and travel to the Gracelawn Cemetery in New Castle. Access to the Chase Center will be restricted, and the public should use off-site parking if wishing to attend the services.

Ballard served with Delaware State Police for a little more than eight years and is survived by his wife, Louise, and their daughter.

Cpl. Steven Ballard