Officer Arthur Scena IV died on Sunday night in Warminster, Bucks County.
Scena, 39, was leaving the funeral of a fellow police officer. He pulled out onto the roadway on his motorcycle when he was struck by a passing vehicle.
Scena was killed instantly.
Those who knew him said Scena will be remembered as a public servant who loved being a cop almost as much as he loved his family.
Chief Brian Marshall says receiving word of what happened sent his mind into a tailspin.
"Devastating. I got the phone call around 7:30 that morning, checked my texts, I made some phone calls," Marshall said. "It's just surreal. The whole thing is surreal."
Mayor Peter Urscheler told Action News the circumstances of the crash are truly heartbreaking.
"To have this tragic accident occur while he was off duty, and literally was coming from the funeral of another officer who just passed away from cancer," Urscheler said. "He had helped to raise almost $30,000 for that officer's family."
A GoFundMe page has since been established online to support Scena's wife and two little girls, ages 5 and 13.
Scena graduated from the Montgomery County Police Academy in 2010. He was a correctional officer with the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and worked as an officer for the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Chester police before joining the Phoenixville ranks in 2019.
"Art was actually one of the first police officers we had brought on and hired right after I became mayor," Urscheler said. "I still remember sitting there across from him in the interviews wearing a pair of handcuff cufflinks that his wife bought him, and forced him to wear."
"He'd love to come in and talk. He had a great sense of humor. When he would come in to work, he would always talk a little bit about his family," Marshall said. "People person. Heart of gold."
"Our entire police department is devastated," he continued.
Scena will be buried in Doylestown next week.