Live coverage: Funeral service for Newman Police Cpl. Ronil Singh
Here is the latest on the funeral of Newman Police Department Cpl. Ronil Singh, who was gunned down in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2018.
The funeral starts Saturday at 10 a.m. at Crosspoint Community Church in downtown Modesto. Afterward, A procession to Hughson will follow along 11th Street to D Street to Yosemite Boulevard and to Santa Fe Avenue before reaching Lakewood Memorial Park, where his burial is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The funeral will be live-streamed on the Newman Police Department’s Facebook Page. If you aren’t on Facebook, you can watch it on the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department’s YouTube Page.
9:25 a.m.: Members of law enforcement agencies from all over the country have been arriving this morning. More than 100 agencies are represented, including more than a dozen from New York and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
9:45 a.m.: According to the program, scheduled speakers are Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson, Modesto Police Detective Ra Pouv, Rajnik SIngh - Ronil Singh’s brother - and Solo Mara, Fiji’s ambassador to the United States. Ronil Singh was a native of Fiji.
9:55 a.m.: Cpl. Singh’s family members have entered the church.
9:59 a.m.: Bagpiper George Harcrow has begun to play. An honor guard is seated on the stage.
10:02 a.m.: Modesto Police Officer Jeffrey Harmon offered the welcome and asked for a moment of silence.
10:05 a.m.: The bagpiper is playing “Amazing Grace”.
10:07 a.m.: Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson is speaking. “I’ve been to many of these and I always sit in the back. I never wanted to be here.”
10:10 a.m.: “He always wore an American flag every time he went to an interview,” Richardson said. “He wanted everybody to know that he was proud to be an American.”
10:12 a.m.: “Ron wasn’t a very good driver. He wrecked I believe three of our patrol cars.”
10:13 a.m.: “I don’t know where we’ll go from here ... I know we’ll find our way. But right now it’s difficult.”
10:15 a.m.: “Had I known Christmas morning when I sent him home that it would be the last time that I saw him, I would have hugged him. I’m not a hugger. It would have been weird for him, I know. But I would have. And I would have held on.”
10:18 a.m.: Rajnil Singh, Ronil Singh’s brother, opened his remarks thanking all the agencies and individuals who worked tirelessly to bring justice to his brother.
10:21 a.m.: Rajnil Singh is telling stories about growing up in Fiji. “We used to play with coconuts.” He once fell out of a boat they shared. Ron tried to pull him back in by his hair, but he slipped away. When Ron got Rajnil back in the boat - by his neck - he said, “You can’t use that hair gel anymore. It’s too slippery.”
10:24 a.m.: Modesto Police Detective Ra Pouv said he met Cpl. Singh in 2008, in the parking lot of the Turlock Police Department, where Singh worked as a code enforcement officer. Both fishing enthusiasts, the two became fast friends.
10:27 a.m.: “I still remember the phone call he made to me soon after his conditional job offer (in Newman),” Pouv said. “... he told me within seven years he wanted to achieve the rank of sergeant.”
10:35 a.m.: Solo Mara, Fiji’s ambassador to the United States, is speaking. He grew up in the same area of Fiji where the Singh family lived, he said. He called Singh’s life “short but well-lived.”
10:41 a.m.: “How grateful we are for the work that you do,” Mara said to the assembled law enforcement crowd.. “Once again, thank you all very much for your service.”
10:43 a.m.: A video tribute is playing.
11:04 a.m.: Harmon: “Ron would want each of us to keep out heads up and fight hte good fight ... Cpl. Singh, we honor you, and we will take it from here.”
11:05 a.m.: A procession will begin to take Singh’s body to Lakewood Memorial Park, where a graveside ceremony is planned.
1:32 p.m.: The service at Lakewood has begun with bagpipes and a 21-gun salute.
1:33 p.m.: “Taps” is played.
1:35 p.m.: Members of an honor guard are folding the American flag that has draped Cpl. Singh’s casket.
1:40 p.m.: The flag is presented to Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson.
1:42 p.m.: Richardson gives the folded flag to Singh’s widow, Anamika.
1:44 p.m.: Helicopters are flying over the assembled crowd.
1:45 p.m.: A final call for Cpl. Singh is going out over the police scanner. “Cpl. Ronil Singh ... You are clear to secure. May you rest in peace.”
1:46 p.m.: A mounted unit, including a riderless horse, walks by the casket.
1:47 p.m.: The ceremony is concluded; Cpl. Singh’s body will be returned to the hearse and family members will board buses for a private ceremony.
This story was originally published January 5, 2019 at 9:22 AM.