Fallen Paramedic Lisa Sillins was laid to rest yesterday during a funeral service largely attended by local emergency medical services as well as police and fire departments from Dutchess County.
Sillins was killed by an alleged drunken driver while leaving her shift at Ambulnz in the City of Newburgh just before Christmas.
All traffic was stopped on major highways in three counties as well as within New York City as an emergency escort guided Sillins and her family uninterrupted. See the video below.
Funeral services with honors were held at the Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Rhinebeck yesterday morning. Agencies from all over the region turned out to show support and honor for Sillins.
Along with Ambulnz, the local agencies in attendance at the funeral service were New Windsor EMS, members of the former Cornwall Volunteer Ambulance Corp., and Town of Newburgh EMS.
Other EMS agencies from around the region also converged to pay their final respects, the Emergency Medical Services Public Advisory Council (EMSPAC) Hudson Valley Chapter stated, who also had representatives in attendance. Other EMS agencies included Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corp.; Cortlandt Paramedics; Eastchester EMS; Empress EMS; Northwell EMS; Ossining EMS; Peekskill EMS; Port Chester, Rye and Rye Brook EMS; and Roosevelt Fire District Ambulance.
Representing the fire service at the funeral service was the Tivoli Fire Department from northern Dutchess County.
Following the funeral services, a large procession escorted Sillins and her family through Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester Counties, and then continued through the Bronx, Manhattan, and finally over the Throggs Neck Bridge into Queens. A full escort was provided by the New York State Police and the NYPD Highway Patrol.
Along the route of the funeral procession, multiple additional agencies lined up the roads, highways, and overpasses to show solidarity and respect for the fallen paramedic. Those agencies included Eastchester EMS, Greenburgh EMS, the Greenburgh Police Department, the Millwood Fire Department, the Mohegan Fire Department, the Westchester County Police Department, Yorktown EMS, the Yorktown Fire Department, and others, according to EMSPAC.
Sillins was interred at Flushing Cemetery in Queens.
EMSPAC has issued a “call to action” to show solidarity for Sillins. Emergency medical service personnel and members of the community will turn out at the accused drunken driver’s first court appearance at the City of Newburgh Court on Tuesday, January 3, 2022, at 9:00am, to “show a united front for the upgrade of charges against the defendant in support of our fallen sister paramedic.”
Pablo Colector, age 45 of White Plains, was driving a Ford F150 pickup truck on Robinson Avenue when he struck Sillins as she was walking to her vehicle upon finishing her shift as a paramedic. Colector was charged with drunken driving after mowing down Sillins, but he could not be sent to jail due to New York’s bail reform laws. While Colector enjoyed continued freedom, Sillins’ peers rushed her to a hospital where she laid clinging to life for several days before succumbing to her injuries.
Sillins family is asking that donations in her honor be made to Mothers Against Drunk Driving at www.madd.org/new-york or 20 Broadhollow Road, Suite 3008, Melville, NY 11747.
