Mayor Nutter's press office just put this out:
MAYOR'S OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT FROM MAYOR MICHAEL A. NUTTER
Philadelphia, November 18 – Mayor Michael A. Nutter has issued the following statement:
It is with profound sadness that I announce that the City of Philadelphia will once again observe a 30-day period of mourning in honor of a fallen police officer. City flags will be flown at half staff during this period.
Last night Sergeant Timothy Simpson was killed in the line of duty. He was involved in an auto accident at Aramingo & Allegheny Avenue and was transported to Temple University Hospital where he died.
Sergeant Simpson was a 20-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department and he is survived by his wife Kathy, and their three children Samantha, Terry, and Courtney. My thoughts and prayers, and the thoughts and prayers of all Philadelphians, are with the Simpson family at this unimaginably difficult time.
It is a tragedy that now on four occasions this year, five in just over a year, Philadelphia has paid tribute to a Philadelphia Police Officer’s life of service given to the people of this city. On this day we remember Officer Charles Cassidy, Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski (Sergeant Simpson’s former partner), Officer Isabel Nazario and Sergeant Patrick McDonald. We also remember Officer Gary Skerski who died in 2006, Officer Walter Barclay, Jr., who died in August 2007, and so many others who have died in the line of duty.
We will never forget their sacrifice and we will never yield in our efforts to make this a safer city. I can think of no more fitting tribute to these heroes who have fallen in the line of duty.