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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Mourners will pay their final respects Wednesday morning to a Minneapolis Park police officer who was fatally
injured in the line of duty.

      A funeral Mass for officer Mark Bedard is scheduled
for eleven a.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown
Minneapolis. Bedard died last Friday -- eight days after he was
struck by a squad car while chasing a suspect in north Minneapolis.
He was 34.

      Governor Pawlenty, who will attend Bedard's funeral, ordered U.S. and Minnesota flags to fly at
half-staff Wednesday at the Capitol.

Police spokesman Ron Reier said Bedard's death is hard on the Minneapolis police force.

"One of the officers literally grew up with Mark at Minnehaha Academy and then Augsburg College," said Reier. "One of the officers goes to the Bedard family Christmases because her family has moved away. One of the officers is a godmother to their son Nick. I mean, this is close."

      Bedard was a 12-year veteran of the park police force. Survivors
include his wife and two-year-old son.

      He'll be buried at Lakewood Cemetery in south Minneapolis.

Crime, Law and Justice

Mourners will pay their final respects Wednesday morning to a Minneapolis Park police officer who was fatally injured in the line of duty.

Funeral for Minneapolis Park police officer

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