Early Saturday afternoon in Cloverdale, the Surrey RCMP will rededicate a plaque memorializing a fallen officer who lost his life here in 1974.
The Cst. Roger Pierlet Overlet (overpass) is dedicated in memory of a Surrey RCMP member who was shot and killed on 176 Street just south of Highway 10, nearly the same location as the present day overpass that carries his name.
Twenty members in red serge will be in attendance during a short ceremony, along with Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Fraser MacRae, and the division pastor, Jim Turner.
Staff Sgt. Major Dave Woods said the original bronze plaque had to be replaced.
On March 29, 1974, two men armed with a rifle hurled a beer bottle through the police office window as they drove through Cloverdale.
Cst. Pierlet stopped the men on 176 Street about 400 metres south of Highway 10. After asking the driver to produce his license, the passenger pulled the trigger, hitting the officer in the chest. Pierlet died almost immediately.
The two suspects, John Harvey Miller, then 28, and Vincent Cockriell, 18, were caught after a chase that led police to 264 Street and Highway 1, where the vehicle ran off the road.
They were sentenced to death, and then to life imprisonment after the death penalty was eliminated.
Pierlet was born in Gander, Newfoundland. He was about to be married at the time of his murder.
His family from Eastern Canada were already en route to attend his wedding, only to learn of their son’s death when the commanding officer of the Surrey detachment met them at the airport.
He’s buried at Regina’s RCMP cemetery.
Note: northbound traffic on Highway 15 will be reduced to one lane while the short ceremony takes place, at 12:30 p.m. May 21