Hundreds honor slain Officer Pawlowski

THE BRIGHT BLUE and red lights atop slain Officer John Pawlowski's cruiser flashed round and round, casting eerie shadows across the faces of mourners who walked past it.

Many of them glanced at police cruiser 359, clutching the programs with Pawlowski's boyish face on the cover, still wondering: Why?

In the blustery February evening, hundreds of loved ones and strangers stood in a long line that snaked around the John F. Givnish Funeral Home and down the block to pay their respects to "Johnny Boy" - the tall, quick-witted Northeast Philadelphia guy who had law enforcement in his blood.

Alongside them, top commanders down to the rank-and-file crammed into the funeral home, on Academy Road, to honor Pawlowski, 25, who was gunned down last Friday in Logan.

Many of them, including Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, have been here before.

"We don't have the chance to recover from one [police death] before another happens," he said last night.

Pawlowski, a five-year veteran, was the seventh officer to be killed in the line of duty since 2006.

The newlywed and expectant father was shot several times after he and his partner confronted Rasheed Scruggs, 33, who had been harassing a "hack" cab driver at Broad Street and Olney Avenue, police said.

The officers repeatedly asked Scruggs to remove his hands from his pockets, police said, but Scruggs fired one shot through his coat pocket and continued to fire, striking Pawlowski, who was pronounced dead at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

"It's hard to understand why this is happening," said George Zorawski, whose son Daniel worked with Pawlowski and slain Officer Chuck Cassidy at the 35th District, headquartered at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue. Cassidy was killed when he broke up a robbery in West Oak Lane on Oct. 31, 2007.

"This is the second friend he's lost, but he likes his job, making a difference," Zorawski said.

Pawlowski's passion for the job was ingrained in him from a young age. His father, John Sr., is a retired police lieutenant, and his brother, Robert, is a corporal who was working in the police radio room the night Pawlowski was killed.

Pawlowski joined the force at 19. He started at the 6th District, 11th and Winter streets, as an enthusiastic rookie, where he worked for four years before he requested to be transferred to the 35th District.

Friends and fellow officers described him as an assertive cop, but a quiet and thoughtful friend.

Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that those characteristics are worth honoring.

"It's a tragedy. He made a difference and you feel sorry for the child he [will] never see," he said, referring to the child Pawlowski's wife is expected to deliver in about four months.

But Pawlowski's legacy is reflected in the duty of his fellow officers, Bethel said. "I've never been so proud of my officers in my 22 years. They're resilient. It's a tribute to who they are as individuals. We honor Pawlowski by continuing to do what we do every day."

A viewing is to start at 7 a.m. today at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at noon. *

Staff writer David Gambacorta contributed to this report.