Wake for Yonkers police sergeant killed in head-on crash involving teen driver
Sgt. Gualdino was a 24-year police veteran who was set to retire in August.
YONKERS, Westchester County (WABC) -- Family, friends and fellow officers gathered for a wake Tuesday for Yonkers Police Sergeant Frank Gualdino.
As family and loved ones gathered, hundreds of people lined up in the rain -- police officers in their dress blues and mourners in black -- to pay their respects.
"There's a sea of blue, cops are standing patch to patch to support the family and I'm getting calls, I'm getting emails, letters of condolences from all over the country right now because everyone wanted to do this for Frank," said Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza.
The 53-year-old sergeant was killed in a horrific head-on crash on Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers last week.
It happened when investigators say an unlicensed 16-year-old driver lost control of a speeding BMW M5, crossed a double yellow line and crashed into oncoming traffic, hitting Gualdino's car and a Westchester County Bee-Line bus.
The sergeant, who was on-duty in an unmarked vehicle at the time, was killed.
The teenage driver of the BMW was critically injured. The teen was driving alone despite only having a learner's permit which was obtained two weeks earlier.
"Frank was a great motorcycle cop, traffic cop and just a swell human being," said City Council member John Rubbo.
Sgt. Gualdino was a 24-year police veteran who was set to retire in August.
Remembered as a kind and dedicated community-oriented officer, he leaves behind a wife and two children.
"I'm personally happy to see him back home in Yonkers and the fact he is back here, the fact he is with our offices and our chaplains and back in the parish where he grew up I think is a great thing," Sapienza said.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church in Yonkers on Wednesday December 7 at 11 a.m.
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