Road closures for funeral for OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller
A number of roads will be closed Thursday morning for the procession to a private police funeral at the Canadian Tire Centre for the officer shot to death last week while responding to a call in Bourget, Ont.
The police funeral for Sgt. Eric Mueller starts at 11 a.m. ET Thursday and is not open to the public, according to a news release from the Ontario Provincial Police.
Mueller, 42, was fatally shot while responding to a call with two of his OPP colleagues last week in Bourget, Ont. The head of the OPP has described it as an "ambush," and a 39-year-old man has since been arrested.
Traffic on roads around the arena will be affected Thursday starting around 6 a.m., OPP said, when Ottawa police close Huntmar Drive between Campeau and Palladium drives at 6 a.m.
At 8:45 a.m, Palladium Drive closes between Huntmar Drive and Silver Seven Road and the Huntmar Drive closure extends down to Maple Grove Road.
Ottawa police said to expect congestion in the area and to avoid it if possible.
A funeral procession from Clarence-Rockland, Ont., to the Canadian Tire Centre is expected to start around 9 a.m., taking Highways 17, 174 and 417 west to the Palladium Drive exit.
The procession is expected to start moving from a funeral home at the corner of Laurier and St. Louis streets in Clarence-Rockland down Laurier to connect with Highway 17 at Laporte Street.
It then takes that highway west onto Highways 174 and 417 through Ottawa's core to Kanata, where it should exit on Palladium Drive, go north to Campeau Drive, east to Huntmar Drive, pass back over the highway and turn left onto Palladium again to get to the arena around 9:50 a.m.
The procession will do a loop on Campeau and Huntmar drives to get to the funeral site around 9:50 a.m., police said.
The roads should reopen around 11 a.m. once the funeral begins.
First responders will also line part of the route from the highway to the arena starting around 9:15 a.m. Members of the public will be allowed to stand along Palladium Drive from the arena's parking lots 4 and 5, though police said they won't be able to drive there.
Ottawa police asking anyone choosing to watch the procession from an overpass to be safe while doing so.
