A drive to honor a fallen comrade

ARLINGTON, Wash. --- Police and Washington State Troopers gathered for a motorcade to honor fallen WSP Trooper Sean O'Connell Thursday.

Around 500 police vehicles and officers planed to leave leave from the Smokey Point rest area near Exit 207 on Interstate 5 South in a motorcade procession to honor the fallen trooper.  The motorcade was scheduled to leave from the rest area around 11 a.m. and drive 13 miles to the Comcast Arena in Everett.

A portion of I-5 South near exit 207 was slated to be closed down for at around 35 minutes in order for the motorcade to get underway.

Trooper Keith Leary said the motorcade of hundreds of police vehicles is a testament on how many people loved Trooper O'Connell.

"He is going to be with us for the rest of our lives and we are going to be able to teach those folks that come in, this is how you need to be a trooper, these are the people we want for our agency, we wish we could have a thousand Sean O'Connell's," Leary said.

The memorial service for O'Connell begins at 1 p.m. in Everett and is expected last for three hours.

O'Connell was a state trooper for 16 years.  On Friday, O'Connell was working traffic control on a detour around the collapsed Skagit River Bridge when his motorcycle collided with a box truck.  He died at the hospital.