Five sheriff’s deputies from Southern California and three National Guardsmen were killed when the helicopter they were flying in a joint drug interdiction mission snagged on a power line and exploded into a hillside in western Imperial County, authorities said.

The accident occurred Monday, Oct. 24, about 9:30 p.m., approximately 63 miles east of San Diego on what was described as a training flight on the first night of an unpublicized anti-drug surveillance program called Operation Border Ranger. The National Guard UH-1H Huey helicopter crashed when it tried to make a pass through an isolated canyon to close in on a parked car thought to belong to drug smugglers, a National Guard spokesman stated.

Killed in the crash were five deputies from a consortium of six Southern California sheriff’s departments that sponsored Operation Border Ranger, an anti-drug smuggling program that was quietly organized earlier this year. The three dead guardsmen were stationed with the 140th Aviation Unit at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center in Orange County.

October 24 was the first day that sheriff’s deputies and the guard had employed the helicopters in the effort, and then maneuvers during the day were performed without incident, Imperial County sheriff’s Lt. Kenneth Koon said.

In all, the guard sent three helicopters and 27 personnel to Imperial County, officials said.

The dead deputies were identified as Roy A. Chester, 41, of La Verne, and James D. McSweeney, 43, of Huntington Beach, both 12-year Los Angeles County Sheriff’s veterans; Sgt. Richard G. Romero, 39, El Centro, a 14-year veteran in Imperial County; Mark Steven Tonkin, 31, Chino, a seven-year member of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and Investigator Michael David Davis, 34, Indio, a nine-year veteran Riverside County deputy. San Diego and San Bernardino county sheriff’s departments, the other participants in the program, had no one on board.

The deputies who died were all experienced narcotics officers.

Chester, who is survived by his wife, Marilyn, a 19-year-old daughter and twin 17-year-old sons, joined the narcotics detail in March 1984, and received numerous citations and commendations.

McSweeney, divorced and with no children, was once shot in the arm and chest while apprehending an armed narcotics suspect.

Davis was awarded the Medal of Valor in 1987 for the rescue of a fellow officer from a brush fire. His wife, Sandy, and four children, ranging in age from 9 to 17 survive him.

Romero was in the same 1966 Calexico High School graduating class as slain Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena.

“At the baccalaureate they said some of you in the crowd will probably go places, some will die, some will end up going crazy . . . It has come to pass,” said Tony Ramos, a member of the same class and now a deputy Imperial County probation officer.

Romero, a 14-year veteran, was not scheduled to be on the flight but pulled rank and bumped another deputy to get a seat on the ill-fated training mission, Koon said.

Five sheriff’s deputies from Southern California and three National Guardsmen were killed when the helicopter they were flying in a joint drug interdiction mission snagged on a power line and exploded into a hillside in western Imperial County, authorities said.

The accident occurred Monday, Oct. 24, about 9:30 p.m., approximately 63 miles east of San Diego on what was described as a training flight on the first night of an unpublicized anti-drug surveillance program called Operation Border Ranger. The National Guard UH-1H Huey helicopter crashed when it tried to make a pass through an isolated canyon to close in on a parked car thought to belong to drug smugglers, a National Guard spokesman stated.

Killed in the crash were five deputies from a consortium of six Southern California sheriff’s departments that sponsored Operation Border Ranger, an anti-drug smuggling program that was quietly organized earlier this year. The three dead guardsmen were stationed with the 140th Aviation Unit at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center in Orange County.

October 24 was the first day that sheriff’s deputies and the guard had employed the helicopters in the effort, and then maneuvers during the day were performed without incident, Imperial County sheriff’s Lt. Kenneth Koon said.

In all, the guard sent three helicopters and 27 personnel to Imperial County, officials said.

The dead deputies were identified as Roy A. Chester, 41, of La Verne, and James D. McSweeney, 43, of Huntington Beach, both 12-year Los Angeles County Sheriff’s veterans; Sgt. Richard G. Romero, 39, El Centro, a 14-year veteran in Imperial County; Mark Steven Tonkin, 31, Chino, a seven-year member of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and Investigator Michael David Davis, 34, Indio, a nine-year veteran Riverside County deputy. San Diego and San Bernardino county sheriff’s departments, the other participants in the program, had no one on board.

The deputies who died were all experienced narcotics officers.

Chester, who is survived by his wife, Marilyn, a 19-year-old daughter and twin 17-year-old sons, joined the narcotics detail in March 1984, and received numerous citations and commendations.

McSweeney, divorced and with no children, was once shot in the arm and chest while apprehending an armed narcotics suspect.

Davis was awarded the Medal of Valor in 1987 for the rescue of a fellow officer from a brush fire. His wife, Sandy, and four children, ranging in age from 9 to 17 survive him.

Romero was in the same 1966 Calexico High School graduating class as slain Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena.

“At the baccalaureate they said some of you in the crowd will probably go places, some will die, some will end up going crazy . . . It has come to pass,” said Tony Ramos, a member of the same class and now a deputy Imperial County probation officer.

Romero, a 14-year veteran, was not scheduled to be on the flight but pulled rank and bumped another deputy to get a seat on the ill-fated training mission, Koon said.

Five sheriff’s deputies from Southern California and three National Guardsmen were killed when the helicopter they were flying in a joint drug interdiction mission snagged on a power line and exploded into a hillside in western Imperial County, authorities said.

The accident occurred Monday, Oct. 24, about 9:30 p.m., approximately 63 miles east of San Diego on what was described as a training flight on the first night of an unpublicized anti-drug surveillance program called Operation Border Ranger. The National Guard UH-1H Huey helicopter crashed when it tried to make a pass through an isolated canyon to close in on a parked car thought to belong to drug smugglers, a National Guard spokesman stated.

Killed in the crash were five deputies from a consortium of six Southern California sheriff’s departments that sponsored Operation Border Ranger, an anti-drug smuggling program that was quietly organized earlier this year. The three dead guardsmen were stationed with the 140th Aviation Unit at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center in Orange County.

October 24 was the first day that sheriff’s deputies and the guard had employed the helicopters in the effort, and then maneuvers during the day were performed without incident, Imperial County sheriff’s Lt. Kenneth Koon said.

In all, the guard sent three helicopters and 27 personnel to Imperial County, officials said.

The dead deputies were identified as Roy A. Chester, 41, of La Verne, and James D. McSweeney, 43, of Huntington Beach, both 12-year Los Angeles County Sheriff’s veterans; Sgt. Richard G. Romero, 39, El Centro, a 14-year veteran in Imperial County; Mark Steven Tonkin, 31, Chino, a seven-year member of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and Investigator Michael David Davis, 34, Indio, a nine-year veteran Riverside County deputy. San Diego and San Bernardino county sheriff’s departments, the other participants in the program, had no one on board.

The deputies who died were all experienced narcotics officers.

Chester, who is survived by his wife, Marilyn, a 19-year-old daughter and twin 17-year-old sons, joined the narcotics detail in March 1984, and received numerous citations and commendations.

McSweeney, divorced and with no children, was once shot in the arm and chest while apprehending an armed narcotics suspect.

Davis was awarded the Medal of Valor in 1987 for the rescue of a fellow officer from a brush fire. His wife, Sandy, and four children, ranging in age from 9 to 17 survive him.

Romero was in the same 1966 Calexico High School graduating class as slain Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena.

“At the baccalaureate they said some of you in the crowd will probably go places, some will die, some will end up going crazy . . . It has come to pass,” said Tony Ramos, a member of the same class and now a deputy Imperial County probation officer.

Romero, a 14-year veteran, was not scheduled to be on the flight but pulled rank and bumped another deputy to get a seat on the ill-fated training mission, Koon said.

Robert Roulston, was a thirty-eight-year-old Anaheim Motorcycle Officer. On October 16, 1988, at 11:50 a.m., Officer Roulston was assisting with traffic control in the vicinity of Anaheim stadium. He was traveling east on Katella Avenue when a car turned in front of him. His motorcycle struck the other vehicle and officer Roulston was killed.

A San Jose motorcycle police officer was killed September 8 when he and his bike slid into a car although skid and gouge marks showed he stomped on the brakes in a desperate effort to avoid the collision.

Robert L. Wirht, 44, an instructor for the motorcycle safety foundation who spent nearly half his police career enforcing traffic laws on his cycle, was flipped through the air at least twice after hitting the left front door of a blue Mustang where the door and the front fender meet, according to Sgt. Charles Blackmore.

Police said the Mustang was driven by Gina Ann Martinez of San Jose, an Evergreen Valley College student who just had celebrated her 20th birthday.

Wirht, a 15-year veteran of the department, was working on radar enforcement trying to stop a white vehicle that was speeding when the Mustang veered into the lane in front of him, police said.

The white car did not stop when the police cycle and the Mustang collided. Wirht was pronounced dead on arrival at San Jose Medical Center; it appeared he died of head trauma.

Blackmore said Wirht might have struck his head on the strobe lights on the rear of his motorcycle as he was tossed from the 800-pound bike.

The accident remains under investigation. But from initial reports, Blackmore said Wirht was in the northbound fast lane of the road accelerating as he tried to catch the white car he had determined was speeding from his hand held radar gun.

Moments before, Officer Tom Harris, another motorcycle officer on radar duty with Wirht, had pulled over a car driven by Esther Togiai, 20, an Evergreen nursing student.

After the accident, Togiai slipped out of her seat belt and ran to the side of Wirht and attempted to give the officer CPR.

“But she told us she was unable to detect a pulse,” Blackmore said. When Togiai first was stopped at the right side of the road, a car coming up in the slow lane cut its speed, Blackmore said Melinda Wilson, 32, of San Jose told police she slowed because she was concerned about safely passing the stopped car.

As she slowed, Wilson noticed in her rearview mirror that a blue Mustang was coming up behind her and she braced herself to be hit, Blackmore said.

Instead, Wilson told officers, the Mustang skidded left into the fast lane and she heard tires squeal and a crash.

According to Blackmore, Martinez told officers at the scene that she began to slow down when the car in front of her did.

“But she misjudged the speed of the car ahead and had to brake harder,” Blackmore said. “She thought she was going to hit the other car and swerved to the left. She lost control and skidded toward the dirt medium strip. It happened so fast she said she heard the crash and saw the motorcycle at the same time.”

Martinez was taken to police headquarters after the accident and police drew a blood sample from her although Blackmore made it clear there was no indication the young woman had been drinking. She had just left her night classes at nearby Evergreen as had Togiai, he said. Martinez later was driven home by officers.

Capt. William Lansdowne said this is the only on-duty death of a motorcycle officer in the department he can recall, although there have been a number of motorcycle officers injured. Police officers generally consider riding a motorcycle to be one of the most dangerous assignments.

A year ago, police said, Wirht was involved in another on-duty accident when a car went through a stop sign and hit his motorcycle broadside. The officer suffered facial injuries in that crash.

A Vietnam veteran, Wirht was active in the Marine Reserves in which he held the rank of chief warrant officer. He joined the police department in 1973. He has been a field training officer, and worked in personnel and patrol before being assigned to traffic enforcement in 1981.

A teacher in the police programs in both the Gavilan and San Jose Community College districts, Wirht also worked with recruits at the police academy, where he was a tactical officer.

Last December he underwent a successful heart bypass operation.

Wirht is survived by his wife and three children – girls aged 2 ½ and 4, and a boy, 17.

Prior to joining San Jose Police Department, Bob spent a few years as a deputy at the San Clara County Sheriff’s Office and a short hitch as a Fremont P.D. officer. He was appointed as a San Jose police officer on Jan. 22, 1973.

“In the Line of Duty, I hear them say”

The line above is excerpted from a very poignant and moving poem entitled “The Monument”. Its author is Sergeant George Hahn, LAPD ret. It was on September 12, 1988 when Brian Pratt, brother of LAPD Officer Danny Pratt recited that poem at the funeral service for Danny Pratt, a brave Los Angeles police officer who was murdered by gang members during a drive-by shooting on September 3, 1988. What follows are some reflections on Dan’s life and career.

Officer Daniel A. Pratt was born and raised in Youngstown Ohio. He had a love for working with wood, and as a teenager, became a carpenter by trade.

In 1977 he joined the United States Marine Corps, serving most of his enlistment at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Ca. While there he was a sergeant in the air wing, working as a helicopter mechanic. At the time of his death, he was a sergeant in the Marine Reserves, stationed out of Camp Pendleton.

In 1982 he joined the Los Angeles Police Department. While in the academy he made friends and established relationships that would follow him throughout his career in the department. He served his probationary period at Hollenbeck Division. Dan wanted a little more excitement, so he transferred to 77th Street Division in the heart of South Los Angeles. He quickly became a favorite because of his energy and his work ethic. He always eager to try new things, and often was picked to work dangerous undercover assignments.

Dan worked the South Bureau Narcotics Task Force, and he was promoted to Police Officer III, a training officer. All of a sudden the trainee became the training officer in patrol. Because of his reputation as being a solid field training officer, Dan was given the “problem probationers”; those young officers on the verge of being fired for various deficiencies in their performance as cops. Almost always, through his mentorship, Officer Pratt would turn these cops around and in most cases turn them into good officers. He also worked the gang task force until June 1988 when he was hand picked to be the senior officer in the Robbery Apprehension Detail known then by its abbreviated name of “RAD”.

On the night of Sept. 3, 1988, Officer Pratt and his partner, Officer Veronica Delao Jenkins, were on an undercover stakeout at the Pine Liquor Store in South Los Angeles, when they heard what they thought were two shotgun blasts. They then heard rapid gunfire and within 5 seconds saw a car’s headlights. This was the car that had been involved minutes before, in a gang related drive-by shooting which left three people wounded. Pratt and his partner radioed their observations to communications and began their observation of the suspect’s vehicle.

A short chase ensued which ended up at Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. The officers wound up at a gas station and adjacent car wash where the officers parked their patrol car for cover. As Officer Pratt called for back up, and requested an “airship”, the suspects’ car made an abrupt u-turn, and was now bearing down on the two officers.

Officer Pratt saw this, and as gunfire erupted from the suspects’ AR-15 assault weapon and bullets began to strike their police car, Pratt returned fire. As he fired the last round from his 9 mm service revolver, he took a fatal round, dying instantly.

Officer Pratt was eulogized at his funeral, by his brother Brian, at the time an officer with the Upland, CA Police Department. He told the audience, “If I would live to be half the man and officer he was . . . he was unparalleled in his family and professional life. He was a good cop, a cop’s cop.”

The Chief of Police, Daryl F. Gates described Officer Pratt as being in the top one percent of personnel in the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officer Pratt was laid to rest Sept. 12, 1988, in a heroes’ funeral, with his family, many friends and officers whose lives he touched, at his side. He was just 30 years old.

He was survived by his pregnant wife, Andria; daughter, Amanda; sons, Danny Jr. and Nicholas; and unborn daughter, Heather, who was born on Feb. 7, 1989, five months after her daddy died. Also surviving him were his parents, Joyce and Roy Pratt Sr., four brothers, three sisters, and a host of other loved ones.

Officer Pratt’s brother, Brian, is presently a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Police Department; and his brother-in-law (Andria’s brother), Jim Deaton, is a detective with the same department.

Raylene Brooks, 17 at the time of the incident, was the driver of the car that was used in Officer Pratt’s murder. She currently resides at the women’s prison in Chowchilla, CA. She had no prior record. She was tried as an adult and convicted of First Degree Murder of a Peace Officer. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Raylene Brooks will be able to request a parole hearing on October 17, 2007.

Kirkton Moore, then 27 years old, the shooter in this crime, had an extensive criminal history consisting of numerous arrests for robbery, ADW, drug sales, battery on a police officer, etc.

Moore had just been released from state prison and was out on parole when he murdered Officer Pratt. He was convicted of First Degree Murder of a Peace Officer and received two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Moore is currently in Folsom Prison.

Both suspects were on the run for a short time. They ultimately gave themselves up in Las Vegas, Nevada after surrendering to a local Los Angeles television news reporter after the case was profiled on America’s Most Wanted. Their arrest was captured on video.

Edward Clavell. Jr., a thirty-one-year-old Seal Beach Police Department Officer, was assigned to traffic enforcement patrol on the night of August 23, 1988. He was attempting to overtake a speeding vehicle when his Police Cruiser entered the intersection of Seal Beach Boulevard and Westminster Boulevard and collided with another car. Officer Clavell was the only fatality of the accident.