Mayor to attend Toronto police officer’s funeral Monday

Mayor Rob Ford will be attending the memorial service for the Toronto police officer who died following a crash last weekend, his brother Doug Ford says.

“This is a police officer that served in Etobicoke that put his life on the line for the people of Toronto and 100 per cent we will be going there in support of our frontline police officers,” Doug Ford told reporters on Friday.

When asked if the mayor’s presence would be a distraction given the latest allegations which suggest he tried to buy a video purportedly showing him smoking crack cocaine.

“This is about the police officer that lost his life. It’s not about the mayor,” Doug Ford said.

Deputy mayor Norm Kelly said he’s concerned by the mayor’s decision to attend but “That’s up to him.”

“He is the mayor of the City of Toronto and I think it’s important for that office to be present,” Kelly said.

Const. John Zivcic, who died earlier this week, will have a full police funeral on Monday at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Zivcic, 34, was responding to a call last Saturday about an impaired driver when his unmarked cruiser collided with another car at Bloor Street West and Neilson Drive, near Highway 427.

The officer, who was with the police force for six years, was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he died on Monday afternoon.

A police procession will occur before the public memorial service, which begins at 11 a.m. at the centre at 650 Dixon Rd.

A visitation will be held from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. and from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. on Sunday at the Delmoro Funeral Home in North York.

Additional public visitations will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bocchinfuso Funeral Home in Thorold, Ont.

A private funeral mass will be held on Dec. 12 at St. Anthony Croatian Roman Catholic Church in Welland.