Slain OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala remembered at funeral
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Slain OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala remembered at funeral

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Const. Greg Pierzchala

Const. Greg Pierzchala enjoyed nature, was a fan of art, excelled at his job as a new police officer and above all, loved protecting his family and the communities he served.

Loved ones, friends and fellow officers gathered Wednesday at a funeral for the Ontario Provincial Police constable who was killed in a shooting ambush last week, remembering the 28-year-old as “humble, generous, funny and competent.”

Justyna Pierzchala said her older brother took his job of watching over her very seriously.

“He was always making sure that I was in a good place, both mentally and physically, and was always checking to make sure that I was headed in the right direction … Greg was so much more than just a police officer,” she said.

“Greg died a hero and he lived as an inspiration.”

Greg Pierzchala was attacked as he responded to a call for a vehicle in a ditch west of Hagersville, Ont., police have said. Two people have been charged with first-degree murder.

Police have said Pierzchala had been a provincial officer for just over a year and had been notified hours before his death that he had passed his 10-month probation period. He was also previously a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and a constable at the provincial legislature.

Pierzchala dreamt of joining the police ranks as a boy and his colleagues have remembered him as a wonderful officer with a big heart made of gold.

His brother Michal Pierzchala remembered the officer as someone with exacting standards who also acknowledged when a person had done something right.

“I think what really separated him from others were his high standards for everything in his life,” he said.

“He made you want to be a better person. He made you want to make your own life better and I can’t think of a better influence someone can have than that.”

The officer’s family said Greg Pierzchala enjoyed martial arts, loved nature, was an avid reader and could stare at paintings in a museum for hours. His colleagues said the young man loved serving his community.

A procession that was held before Pierzchala’s private funeral in Barrie, Ont., saw a police motorcade make its way through city streets as several members of the public watched.

Inside the Sadlon Arena, officers were asked to remove their peaked caps as Pierzchala’s casket was carried to the front of the venue.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who joined the hundreds of officers in attendance at the arena in the officer’s hometown, said the constable’s death had highlighted the difficulties of the job.

“This brave young man died just two days after Christmas,” Ford said at the beginning of the ceremony. “It’s yet another difficult reminder that the job of a police officer is one of total commitment.”

Ford told the service that Pierzchala’s death was a “painful reminder that policing is a family calling.”

“The people he really served will never forget your sacrifice,” Ford said to the officer’s family. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your son and brother with us.”

The commissioner of the provincial police force became emotional during Wednesday’s funeral as he remembered how often he heard inspiring stories about Pierzchala.

Thomas Carrique said Pierzchala was “extraordinary” and a “total package.”

“I am truly humbled to have shared the same uniform as Greg,” he said.

Court documents show 25-year-old Randall McKenzie – one of two people accused in the attack on Pierzchala – had been denied bail in an unrelated case involving a number of assault and weapons charges months before the shooting, but was released after a review. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to show up for a court date in August, the documents show.

Pierzchala’s brother said his sibling was aware of the risks of the job but chose to serve nonetheless. He also said his brother, who visited the family home every week, would always make it a point of saying a proper goodbye to his loved ones when he left.

Michal Pierzchala said the words of one of his brother’s favourite authors, Charles Dickens, was fitting for the funeral.

“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss,” he read. “I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy … It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2023.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Shapovalov advances to Swiss Indoors quarterfinals with win over Bautista Agut

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BASEL, Switzerland – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday.

Shapovalov used a strong service game to overcome the Spanish veteran for the win at the ATP 500 event in just under one hour 40 minutes.

The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., fired 18 aces, including one to set up match point in the second-set tiebreaker, and won 79 per cent of first-serves and 63 per cent of second-serve points.

Shapovalov, a former top-10 player on the ATP Tour, entered this year’s Swiss Indoors ranked 95th and will appear in just his second quarterfinal of the season.

He improved to 3-0 against Bautista Agut, who he beat in July en route to a quarterfinal appearance in Washington.

Shapovalov will next face the winner of a match scheduled for later Thursday between defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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Police suggest speed a factor in fiery EV crash that killed four in downtown Toronto

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TORONTO – Speed was considered a factor in a fiery overnight crash in downtown Toronto that killed four people and injured one woman, officials said Thursday, underlining the challenges firefighters face when batting electric-vehicle battery fires.

The Tesla car was travelling at a “high rate of speed” when it lost control, slammed into a guard rail and then caught fire along Lake Shore Boulevard east of Cherry Street shortly after midnight, Toronto police Deputy Insp. Phillip Sinclair said Thursday.

“There is some evidence to suggest that speed was a factor,” he said.

Sinclair described the crash as “heartbreaking.” All four people who were killed — three men and one woman — were in their 20s and 30s, he said.

The surviving woman was pulled from the car by a motorist who stopped to help, he said. The woman, in her 20s, was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Thanks very much to that bystander. We have been speaking to them, and obviously they are also deeply affected by this incident — a very horrific scene for that bystander to step in,” Sinclair told a press conference Thursday morning.

Toronto’s deputy fire chief said the crash underlined the challenge firefighters can face when trying to put out electric-vehicle battery fires.

“The intensity of the fire is directly linked to the battery cells in the Tesla,” said Jim Jessop, speaking alongside Sinclair.

“But I want to be very clear: we have all attended collisions where we’ve had horrible car fires as well that are gasoline powered.”

One of the major risks in electric-vehicle fires, he said, is when the battery gets into an uncontrollable self-heating chain reaction, or what’s called thermal runaway. The battery can sometimes reignite up to weeks later, he said.

Firefighters at the scene put the car’s battery cell in a dumpster and filled it with sand, then moved it from the scene for safe disposal, he said.

“We don’t want to speculate on the intensity of the fire until the investigation is complete, but certainly it did cause extra care and concern in transporting the vehicle and the battery cell that had been ejected (from the vehicle),” Jessop said.

Talk of battery fire risks comes as the city’s transit agency considers a possible ban on e-bikes and e-scooters from its vehicles. A staff report going before the Toronto Transit Commission’s board says the risks are particularly associated with lithium-ion batteries in uncertified or misused devices.

Research findings from EV FireSafe, a group backed by the Australian government, suggest electric-vehicle battery fires are uncommon and happen less often than gas-powered vehicle fires.

Jessop said Toronto Fire is being “very proactive” in preparing for a future where lithium-ion batteries, the type found in everything from cellphones to cars, are even more common.

He said the service has a working group to help inform its response to public messaging about battery fires and tactics for safe disposal by firefighters.

“It’s something that you know we’re going to have to deal with and continue to deal with as this technology expands … and it’s something that, you know, we’re going to continue to work on,” he said.

Lake Shore Boulevard, the major arterial road along the city’s waterfront, was closed in both directions between the Don Valley parkway and Cherry Street for several hours ahead of the morning rush hour. One lane reopened in each direction later in the morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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