Const. John Zivcic is being remembered with a stone marker being placed at a tree where he died in 2013 in Etobicoke.
Two slain Toronto Police offices from 22 Division are being paid tribute to as Remembrance Day approaches.
Constable John Zivcic succumbed to his injuries on December 2, 2013, at age 34, with six years of service to the Toronto Police.
The City of Toronto after 11-years this month authorized a stone marker and inscribed plaque be placed by parks staff on a tree that was planted in a Commemorative Tree Program to remember Zivcic.
A tree in the city boulevard at the intersection of Bloor Street West and Neilson Drive that was damaged in the collision was removed, police said, and for several years the tree stump remained, marked with the brass numbers of his police badge: “9824”.
Constable Henry Snedden was shot dead by a deranged man in Etobicoke 46 years ago.
The tree stump was eventually removed and a memorial tree was planted at that location honouring the legacy of Zivcic, who died in the line of duty. The commemorative lilac tree was unveiled in a ceremony on September 2023.
The Toronto and Canadian police community are also mourning the loss of Constable Henry Snedden who was shot dead by a deranged man in Etobicoke 46 years ago.
Snedden and his partner, Donald Chadbold, responded on September 15, 1978 to what they thought was a domestic dispute on Mooreshead Drive, near the Etobicoke Civic Centre, in the Renforth Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road area.
“Upon arriving at the disturbance, the officers found two groups of people standing outside 16 and 18 Mooreshead,” according to police records. The officers separated.
Zivcic’s legacy will now be paid tribute to with a plaque placed by a transplanted tree where he was killed.
Suddenly a man, Arthur Hayden Packwood, began struggling with Constable Snedden, according to documents.
Chadbolt rushed to his partner’s aid. Momentarily the two officers appeared to have the situation under control, police said.
“They didn’t realize Packwood had managed to get Snedden’s service revolver out of his holster,” according to police. “Shots rang out. Constable Snedden was dead before reaching Queensway General Hospital.”
“Snedden’s partner cradled him, trying to keep the veteran alive,” records show. It was too late.
Constable Snedden police plaque marking his service.
The young officer was shot twice in the chest by Packwood, 27, on the front steps of the home with his own gun.
He had been on the force for just over two years.
Packwood, who had a mental illness and believed he was acting in self-defence, was eventually found not guilty of murder, due to insanity.
Another officer suffered serious injuries when he crashed his motorcycle rushing to the scene to help his ailing brothers.
Their deaths, along with other officers who pass, are marked yearly by their colleagues.