Nearby Factory Prints Shirts to Honor Slain Officer

A Bridgeville company is producing thousands of T-shirts to memorialize the slain Lower Burrell police officer and raise money for his family.

Workers at X-Deco spent the past few days printing more than 7,000 shirts to benefit the Derek Kotecki Memorial T-Shirt Fund and will continue to roll more off the presses.

Derek Kotecki, a K-9 officer in Lower Burrell, was shot to death on Oct. 12 as he attempted to arrest a wanted man. All of the proceeds from the shirts will be donated to the fund, and some of the workers have volunteered their time so more money goes to the family.

“We like helping them out,” said Perry Smith, , as he placed shirts on a drying conveyor belt. “I have a few friends who are officers and would hate to see anything happen to them. Anything we can do to help.”

Ryan Niggel, president of the screen printing and embroidery company on Union Street, said a lot of effort is being put into the shirts to honor the fallen officer.

“You just find a way to give back,” Niggel said.

The company has also printed memorial shirts for other slain law enforcement officers, including state police Trooper Joseph Pokorny and FBI Special Agent Sam Hicks. Niggel said some of the workers go down to Washington D.C. each year for National Police Week.

“You don’t really like doing this,” Niggel said. “It’s one of those things where you’ve been around long enough to know these guys are more than a badge and a car going down the road.”

He said it was especially tough Tuesday when Lower Burrell police Chief Tracy Lindo and Officer John Marhefka visted the company.

“All they kept saying is they’re amazed by how many people stepped up. They’re getting help from places they didn’t even know existed,” Niggel said. “But you can see it in their faces. They’re almost in a fog. They’re going through the motions.”

The initial batch of 2,400 shirts has already been sold, and another 4,800 are being printed. Niggel said they hope to sell more than 10,000 shirts for the fund.

The T-shirts cost $10 and long sleeve shirts are $20. They can be purchased by going to www.officerkotecki.com.

This story originally appeared on Chartiers Valley Patch.