(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services, Caption for Photo: Funeral honoring fallen Pennsylvania State Trooper First Class Michael E. Pahira Jr. on July 8th, 2026 in Ashland, Pa.)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Ashland, PA) Funeral services were held for fallen Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael E. Pahira, Jr. at the North Schuylkill Junior/Senior High School in Ashland on Wednesday. Pahira was killed in the line of duty on July 1st, 2026 after getting hit by a tractor-trailer along Interstate 81 South in Schuylkill County.

Pahira was conducting a commercial motor vehicle inspection at the time of the accident and suffered serious injuries after he was hit. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Pahira enlisted with the Pennsylvania State Police in January of 2007 as a member of the 124th Cadet Class.  

He was assigned to the patrol unit at Troop N, Lehighton upon his graduation from the State Police Academy in August of 2007.

He was transferred to Troop L, Schuylkill Haven, in March of 2013, before he transferred to Troop L, Frackville, in March of 2016, which was where he served as a Motor Carrier Inspector in the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit.

Pahira was forty-four years old and he is the 106th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to give his life in the line of duty.