'Turkey Trot' To Hit The Streets Of Newtown This Fall In Memory Of Slain Officer

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — A new event honoring the memory of a slain Newtown Borough police officer is expected to hit the streets of Newtown Borough in November.

The borough council, at its July meeting, is expected to approve a special event application that would allow Boss Events to stage a 5K race for the Bucks County Heroes Scholarship Fund and in memory of Officer Brian Gregg.

The Bucks County Heroes Scholarship Foundation awards scholarships to the children of law
enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and correctional officers who are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.

Pending the approval of council, the Newtown Turkey Trot will step off at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27 on a designated route through town.

Newtown-based Boss Events organizes and runs fundraising races throughout the nation, including
Newtown’s own hugely-successful Shamrock Shuffle, which has raised thousands for A Love For Life, a Newtown-based nonprofit that supports pancreatic research at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.

The Turkey Trot would be held in memory of Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian Gregg who was gunned down 20 years ago in the emergency department at St. Mary Medical Center.

Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian Gregg.

Officer Gregg had just started as a full-time officer after serving as a part-time officer when tragedy struck. He was shot and killed on Sept. 29, 2005 after a suspect in custody for DUI was able to gain possession of a service weapon.

Gregg was born in Bristol and grew up in Levittown. He was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School (Harry S Truman High School), the Bucks County Community College, Ferris State University and the Middlesex Fire Academy.

For 15 years, Gregg worked as a contractor and owned his own business in the area. He then pursued his ambition to become a police officer graduating from the Temple University Police Academy in
2002.

Gregg was hired as a part-time officer with Newtown Borough in 2003. He was later hired as a full time officer in October 2004.

“Brian truly loved his community and he was proud to serve the town of Newtown,” reads his obituary. “He never hesitated to answer the call to duty or to help others.”

In April 2014, a section of the Newtown Bypass between South State Street and Durham Road was renamed the Officer Gregg Memorial Bypass. The borough also dedicated a park in his memory on North Congress Street.

Brian Gregg Park on North Congress Street. (Jeff Werner/Patch)