Remembering Deputy Marshal Christopher Hill
Firefighters salute police officers at the front of the motorcade leading to the memorial service for U.S. Deputy Marshal Christopher Hill at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Brett Sholtis/WITF News)
(Hershey) — The procession, led by two dozen police motorcycles, rolled under the arch formed by two ladder trucks, an American flag at its apex.
The police cruisers, lights flashing, followed. Behind them, a U.S. Marshal’s armored truck lumbered by, carrying Deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher David Hill to his final call, his final rest.
Hill, a 45-year-old father of two, was killed one week ago as he and members of the Marshal Service’s Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve an arrest warrant in Harrisburg. A York City police officer was wounded. The assailant, Kevin Sturgis, a 31-year-old man wanted by Philadelphia police for failing to show up for sentencing on firearms charges and probation violations, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Harrisburg police officer Jeffrey Cook, who was struck by a bullet but unharmed by virtue of his body armor.
Hill’s memorial service was held inside the vast Giant Center in Hershey. Law enforcement officers from around the country attended, gathering in their collective grief over the loss of one of their own. Hill’s family asked that all media stay out of the arena.
“It’s good to see so much support,” said retired Derry Township Police Chief Pat O’Rourke. “We’re one fight, one army. It was a time for us to come together and remind each other of what we face every day.”
O’Rourke, speaking to reporters gathered outside, said Hill was eulogized as a capable law enforcement officer and a stellar public servant. “He was the go-to guy,” O’Rourke said. “He was the guy you wanted to go through the door with.”
York County District Attorney Dave Sunday said, “The thing that struck me the most was so many people, one after another, talked about how he affected their lives in such an amazingly positive way. I didn’t know him personally, I didn’t work with him, but it was very clear that he was the cream of the crop.”
Hill also had a lighter side, known for his sense of humor, positive outlook and propensity for pulling pranks on his fellow marshals, O’Rourke said. He was also known for his acts of kindness.
The floor of Giant Center was full, as was the lower bowl of the arena, O’Rourke said.
When the two-hour-long memorial concluded, law enforcement officers lined up in formation in front of the arena. A rifle volley sounded. Mounted officers stood to the side. A half-dozen helicopters – including a Blackhawk, paying honor to Hill’s service as a Ranger in the U.S. Army before joining the Marshals Service – flew over the arena.
Hill’s body was carried away by the armored vehicle, escorted by a procession of police motorcycles and cruisers.
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.
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