BALDWIN – Gale Avenue, a main thoroughfare of Baldwin, was a sea of blue and black uniforms extending as far as the eye could see, as the funeral of Nassau County Police Officer Arthur Lopez was held at St. Christopher's Church on Saturday afternoon.
Lopez, a Babylon Village resident, was gunned down on Tuesday morning after pulling a car over for a hit-and-run incident. The accused Darrell Fuller, who also allegedly shot another driver on the Cross Island Parkway, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder by Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Police officers from as near as Suffolk County and as far as New Jersey and upstate New York came out to salute the hearse carrying Officer Lopez's body. Hundreds of residents and mourners lined the sidewalks near the church.
As officers stood at attention, some with tears in their eyes, a police band played the hymn "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes as palbearers carried a Nassau County flag-draped coffin inside of the church.
Officer Lopez was posthumorsly promoted to the rank of detective during the funeral.
