LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Firefighters came together Sunday to honor one of their own, one day after he was killed by a suspected drunk driver in the line of duty.
Storm clouds drifted overhead as dozens of friends, family and fellow firefighters stood in silence, paying their respects outside the Lower Merion Township building on Lancaster Avenue as the processional for Tom Royds passed.
Royds, a career firefighter with the Union Fire Association in Bala Cynwyd, died Saturday morning. He and three other first responders were struck by a car while on the scene of an earlier accident on the Schuylkill Expressway westbound, near the Gladwyne exit. Royds went into cardiac arrest at the scene and was pronounced dead a short time later at Paoli Hospital.
The driver, 63-year-old Jacquelyn Walker of South Jersey, was charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence, and is being held on $500,000 bail at Montgomery County Prison.
"It's sad. It hasn't really sunk in yet," said firefighter Christopher Camarda.
Kamarta said he was there because all firefighters are family. The processional escorted Royds' remains from the Montgomery County Coroner's Office to an area funeral home.
Tracy Damici, a childhood friend, fought back tears as she remembered Royds.
"Tommy grew up in the house next to me," she said, "It's very much a firefighter community sense of loss. It's tragic and avoidable."
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Royds was covering a shift at the Belmont Hills fire company when he died. "Tommy ran with three different companies, so multiple houses are feeling this loss today," said Damici.
Bill and Jamie Stebbins, longtime members of the Gladwyne Fire Company, fought back tears while watching.
"Tommy was a one of a kind guy, always had a smile on his face," said Jamie Stebbins. "I just send my regards and hope everything is alright with the family," added Bill.