Frackville State Trooper Michael E. Pahira Jr.’s tragic death on July 1 reverberated throughout the country and beyond; hundreds of troopers from as far away as California and Canada attended his funeral to mourn the loss of the well-liked officer.

Those shock waves, now subsiding into ground swells of grief, will be felt for a long time.

On Wednesday, Schuylkill County commissioners took time from back-to-back meetings to pay tribute Trooper Pahira, killed when a truck driver veered off I-81 in the county, striking him.

Pahira’s funeral, held July 8 at his alma mater, North Schuylkill High School, was “very memorable to me, very respectful,” said Commissioners Chairman Larry X. Padora Jr.

He said that seeing so many people there, not just law enforcement or elected officials, “shows how much impact that that trooper had on so many lives.” Commissioner Gary J. Hess observed the courage of officers such as Pahira.

“They do their job no matter what day it is — night, day, holiday or whatever, and hopefully they go back to their family,” he said.

Commissioner Barron L. Hetherington, who attended North Schuylkill High School with Pahira’s father, said, “Mike was a standout athlete, just like his father.”

He said about good third of the auditorium was “filled up with state troopers, not only from Pennsylvania, but from Texas, New Jersey, Delaware — all over the United States.”

Padora added that troopers from Canada, California, Kansas, and Iowa also attended to honor Pahira.

“The brotherhood and camaraderie … It was very touching,” he said.

Pahira had pulled a truck off the highway near the 119 exit in Butler Township at about 7 a.m. July 1 for a brake inspection. He was standing at the side of the truck on the wide berm when a truck driven by Michael Bon, 33, a Haitian immigrant in the country illegally, veered off the highway, slamming into the trooper and trapping him beneath the cab of his truck,

Three construction workers working nearby rushed to the scene and pulled Pahira from under the burning truck. However, Pahira died hours later without regaining consciousness.

Bon, of Brockton, Mass., was charged with vehicular homicide and other crimes. He is in Schuylkill County Prison under $700,000 bail. His commercial driver’s license was set to expire the day of the crash.