Tears of sorrow were pervaded by bonds of unity as family and friends came together to mourn California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Thomas Taylor.

Taylor, 28, died last Thanksgiving Day after being struck by a car while issuing a traffic citation along Interstate 10 near Cathedral City.

Taylor, a Cathedral City resident, is survived by his wife, Brenda, and 8-year-old daughter, Kristie Lee.

A CHP officer for two years, Taylor had previously been a sergeant in the United States Marines.

Taylor left a deep impression among his fellow officers, said CHP Sgt. Jerry Thomas, who delivered Taylor’s eulogy to a standing room only crowd at the First United Methodist Church.

“From that first day, Mark was a morale builder. He was a fast learner, always ready to help, no matter how hard the job or the task might be,” Thomas said.

Taylor was the second CHP officer from the Indio office to die last year. Officer Michael Allen Brandt, a close friend of Taylor’s, was killed April 6 when his patrol car spun off Highway 74 just south of Palm Desert while Brandt was pursuing another driver.

When Brandt died, Taylor took it upon himself to act as a liaison between Brandt’s family and the California Highway Patrol, assuring the family’s needs and concerns were taken care of following their loss.

Following the memorial service, Taylor’s flag-draped coffin was carried from the church past ranks of saluting law enforcement officers by an honor guard of United States Marines – in attendance to honor Taylor’s six years of service as a Marine.

Before his remains were placed in a waiting silver hearse, the flag was removed from the coffin by the Marine honor guard, folded, and given to Taylor’s widow.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were in attendance.

Further services were scheduled in Taylor’s hometown of Benton Harbor, Mich. Burial was at North Shore Memorial Gardens, Hagar Shores, Mich.

The CHP sent an honor guard back to Benton Harbor, Mich., to attend the funeral.

Ranger Kowatch was driving from Mt. Palomar State Park to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park when he apparently lost control of his vehicle which rolled over several times causing his death at the scene.

Shasta County sheriff’s deputy Dennis M. Sullivan was killed Saturday, October 10, in a traffic accident while on his way to negotiate with a reportedly armed woman barricaded in a Mountain Gate home.

Sullivan, 41, of Shingletown died instantly in the 2:45 a.m. accident, the California Highway Patrol said.

He had been with the Sheriff’s Department since 1981.

“He was a good deputy, a good man to have with you,” Undersheriff Jim Pope said this morning.

Pope said the Sheriff’s Department is “trying to hang in there,” following the shock of Sullivan’s death.

The accident occurred on Highway 44 east of Shingletown. Sullivan was headed west near Inwood Road when the trailer of an eastbound truck tipped over onto his small pickup, a CHP spokesman said.

Sullivan had tried to avoid the trailer by moving to the extreme right side of the road, the CHP said.

The impact of the collision sheared the top off the pickup and forced the truck to go off the highway on the north side, the CHP reported.

The truck driver, Steven Poggie, 35, of Westwood, was not injured.

Sullivan, a member of the department’s hostage negotiation team for four years, was headed for Mountain Gate when the accident occurred. Lt. Dennis Boatner said that situation was a domestic dispute during which neighbors reportedly heard a shot fired, which was unfounded.

Sullivan was a patrol deputy who had been stationed at the Palo Cedro sheriff’s substation since March. Prior to that he was a resident deputy in the Shingletown area. He went to work for the Sheriff’s Department after 11 years with the South San Francisco Police Department.

Pope said Sullivan designed and implemented the South San Francisco department’s field training program. As a sergeant there he supervised the operations division, community relations and crime prevention programs, Pope said.

Sullivan was an avid fisherman and hunter.

“I don’t think you’d find a single person in Shingletown who didn’t like Skip. He was a hell of a good guy,” Phil Seberger said.

Survivors include a son and two daughters.

A rookie California Highway Patrol officer was killed and his partner was injured September 30, when they were struck by a car while investigating a minor accident on the Long Beach Freeway in Bell, the CHP reported.

A CHP spokesman said the officers were run down as they were getting back into their patrol car on a narrow strip between the northbound fast lane and the low center barrier after talking to the occupants of three cars involved in an earlier non-injury collision. Officer Autry was thrown into the center divider guardrail and died instantly.

The dead officer was identified by the coroner’s office as Terry Wayne Autrey, 28, of Upland. He reportedly was hurled more than 20 feet by the impact. Officer Jill Angel said he had been out of the CHP academy only 16 days and was being trained by his partner, Michael R. Price, 34.

Price was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where a spokesman said he was in fair condition, complaining of back, head and neck pain.

The motorist who ran into the officers stopped within a short distance, the CHP said, and was released after several hours of questioning by investigators. He was identified as John Adam Schirra, 35, of Walnut.

Patrolman Mike Maas said Schirra apparently tried to drive around the right side of the CHP car, but struck the rear right side of it just as Autrey was climbing into the passenger seat. Price was already behind the steering wheel.

Angel said the drivers and passengers in the cars that were involved in the initial accident were the only known witnesses. She described them as “very shaken up.” One woman reportedly became hysterical.

The accident about brought freeway traffic in both directions to a virtual halt for miles. All four northbound lanes were closed for four hours.

Autrey, who began his career at the East Los Angeles office on Sept. 2, was the father of two sons, Jeremy, 5, and Nicholas, 4. His wife, Roberta, 27, is expecting a third child, the CHP said.

Autrey was the first CHP officer to be killed in Los Angeles County since 1981. He was the 164th CHP officer to die in the line of duty since 1929, when the agency was formed, a spokesman said in Sacramento.

– Los Angeles Times

A National City police officer was killed while on duty June 24, the first in the history of the department.

Officer Robert Medina, 28, died in a fiery crash near Rancho Penasquitos on Interstate 15, south of Carmel Mountain Road. Acting Captain Tom Deese said he was returning in a patrol car from a parole hearing at Chino State Prison.

Medina lived in Chula Vista with his wife, Paula.

Officers paid their respects for Medina by wearing black mourning bands on their badges during the week.

“Everybody is taking it hard. It’s tough getting over the initial shock of it,” Deese said. “There was nothing he could have done to avoid it.”

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said one other person was killed in the accident, which occurred at 4:36 p.m. A 79-year-old La Mesa woman, Alice Bertha Fountain, died at Scripps Memorial Hospital, according to Deputy Coroner David Lodge. Medina died at Sharp Memorial Hospital at 6:41 p.m. suffering from massive trauma.

Medina died after a car driven by Fountain’s husband, Everett, crossed over the center divider and collided with his patrol car. The officer’s car exploded into flames and traveled from the fast lane into the slower lanes, striking another vehicle, the spokesman said.

“Robert Medina has passed on, but many remember him as a cop who loved his job.”

National City officers were in full dress uniform, and started lining up at Jack Murphy Stadium about an hour before going on to The First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley.

After his funeral, a long line of patrol cards drove down the freeway, with exits along the route closed to traffic. Several agencies attended the Episcopal services, including about 25 Chula Vista officers.

Pallbearers were all National City officers. They were Lieutenant Craig Short and Sergeant Mike Iglesias, officers Carl Pittman, Tim Patton, Cliff Breeden, and Detective Mark Musgrove.

Medina was buried at Greenwood Cemetery, with his widow, Paula, accepting a flag and plaque from acting Capt. Tom Deese.

The National City Police Department hosted a reception after the burial at Granger Music Hall.

During an interview, Medina’s wife, Paula, was calm but obviously shaken by her husband’s death. She spoke quietly but firmly about how she was feeling.

“Considering the loss, right now I feel I’m being pretty strong,” she said. “We had a real special love. Everyone said we had a glow when we were together. I feel very lucky to have known him and feel I was made a better person by knowing him.”

Paula and Robert would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary July 14.

Medina, 28, graduated from Madison High School in 1976, and spent two years at the University of San Diego studying criminal justice. He then tested for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, graduating from the academy fourth in a class of 300.

Medina served at the Poway Sheriff’s Office for six years, also working in the San Diego County Jail for three years.

In Poway, he was a traffic investigator and translator. He was bilingual, often interviewing Spanish-speaking subjects, a skill which he carried over to the National City force.

Larry Jacqout of the Poway Sheriff’s Office knew Medina well. Jacquot served with National City police for 15 years.

“He will be sorely missed by his friends with the Sheriff’s office and in National City. I didn’t socialize with him a lot because he was much younger than me, but he was a real top cop,” Jacquot said.

Iglesias, Medina’s squad leader, said he had been on the force for about a year. He died two days short of ending his probationary period.

These have been the best of times for James Pagliotti. He loved his profession, his challenging new assignment and, above all, a young woman named Vicky Houghton.

Even better days seemed ahead.

In October, he and Houghton were scheduled to be married, on the one-year anniversary of their first date.

But on the night of June 22, Pagliotti’s future ended when the 28-year-old Los Angeles police officer was killed in a shootout in a drug-plagued San Fernando Valley neighborhood. He died after responding to a fellow officer’s call for assistance.

“Jim did what had to be done because his community and partner were in peril,” Lt. Mike Hillmann, one of Pagliotti’s supervisors in LAPD’s famed Metropolitan division, told more than 2,000 mourners at a memorial service. “He was truly a role model for Metro and will never be forgotten.”

The service at Scottish Rite Temple dew uniformed police officers from more than two- dozen law-enforcement agencies throughout Southern California. All wore black bands of mourning across their badges.

Pagliotti, who joined the Metropolitan division last December, was remembered by Hillmann and other co-workers as an energetic, loyal and dedicated officer, who lived each day to its fullest.

“His zest for life pushed him to the limits,” said LAPD Officer Glynn Martin, Pagliotti’s close friend since they went through the police academy together. “Jim loved life and life loved Jim back.”

Martin described Pagliotti as “a man ahead of his time, who identified with two other Americans ahead of their time – James Dean and Bruce Springsteen.”

He quoted lyrics from the Springsteen song “No Surrender,” which he said best described Pagliotti’s attitude: “We made a promise we’d always remember. No retreat, no surrender.”

That attitude, along with Pagliotti’s desire, were trademarks of the five-year LAPD veteran, Martin told mourners.

“On that fateful Monday night, Jim never retreated, he never surrendered,” he said. “Jim we love you. Bye, old buddy.”

For Pagliotti, becoming a policeman was a longtime goal. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Cal State Fresno in 1981 and joined the Los Angeles Police Department the following year.

“He just enjoyed catching crooks and putting bad guys in jail,” said Hillmann. “He took great pride in it.”

During the service, the temple was filled to near capacity, mostly with police officers that solemnly entered single file, their hats or motorcycle helmets tucked securely under their left arms. Pagliotti’s Metropolitan division colleagues were the last officers inside. They waited alone outside as a group, then walked in together and sat in front, just behind the slain officer’s family.

Following the eulogies, Police Chief Daryl Gates presented to Pagliotti’s mother, Alice, the American flag that draped her son’s coffin. He then quietly offered words of condolence to her and the officer’s fiancée, his father, Joe, and brother, Danny.

Houghton, the fiancée, was the first love of Pagliotti’s life, his good friend Martin told mourners.

“We mourn not only Jim, but Vicky, too,” he said.

Understandably, the service touched those in attendance. Many officers repeatedly wiped their eyes, some embracing afterward. Houghton and Pagliotti’s mother held on to each other throughout the morning, comforting one another.

“He was very good at what he did,” Houghton said quietly afterward. “He just loved his job.

Although half of all police officers killed in the line of duty die in traffic mishaps, motorcycle accidents such as the one that took the life of Officer Randol Marshall June 2 are relatively rare, police say.

Lt. Dan Cooke, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said that Marshall, 39, an 18-year veteran of the force, was killed when a cab smashed into his motorcycle on Saticoy Street near Balcom Street in Reseda. The driver of the cab, Gordon Dummer, 54, was not hurt and has not been charged.

Bob Lindsey, police safety coordinator for the department, said that Marshall, who leaves two daughters and a former wife, was the first fatal victim of a police motorcycle accident since 1984.

About seven police officers have died in traffic accidents since 1978, Lindsey said. He added that while non-fatal traffic accidents involving police have ranged from around 900 to 1,000 since 1983, only about 7 percent are motorcycle accidents.

Sgt. John Martin, who helps train motorcycle officers, said that because police are both riding motorcycles and performing a duty, “It is mandatory to learn to be able to control the motorcycle at all times. It has to become second nature to survive.”

A police spokesman said that a memorial service was held for Marshall in the Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale.

– L.A. Herald Examiner

Hundreds of fellow officers filled the First United Methodist Church of Indio to pay tribute to California Highway Patrolman Michael Brandt who was killed May 6 during a pursuit.

Full military honors were accorded to the 34-year-old Air Force veteran and a 100-vehicle motorcade wound its way through Indio streets to the Coachella Valley Cemetery.

Brandt’s wife Sylvia, twin 5-year-old daughters Monique and Nicole, and other family members heard him praised as a fine officer, loyal friend and dedicated family man.

“I want to assure Sylvia and the family that Michael’s work, his life and his death were not in vain,” said Pastor Arthur Smith, officiating at the funeral service. “The essence of what Michael was will live on. His gentleness, his kindness, his sincerity and his honesty will always find expression in those who loved him.”

Sgt. Dennis Hacker, chosen by the family to deliver the eulogy, said Brandt was “loved and respected beyond words. He loved his job for what he believed it represented and believed that what he was doing was right.”

He called Brandt a high achiever who “gave 150 percent all the time.”

Two hours before the fatal crash, Brandt arrested a suspected drunken driver.

“He wasn’t at a coffee shop kicking back,” Hacker said. “He was out on patrol doing his job. Mike was the kind of cop you wanted next to you on a beat. You could depend on him for anything at any time.”

Off-duty Brandt was a runner, Hacker said Brandt recently had coaxed fellow officers to spend a Saturday morning in an organized run up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Road – a 2.7 mile journey which climbs 2,000 feet into a mountain canyon.

“Of course, he left us in the dust. Mike beat us by almost 30 minutes. But as each member of the squad crossed the finish line, the guy there to meet each one with a slap on the back was Mike.”

“I’d like to leave you with something bright and cheerful but it’s really hard,” he said. “All I know is when the Good Lord needs a runner, He takes the very best.”

Between 500 and 600 police, fire, and other public safety officers filed past, each covering their hearts with caps. Virtually every local, state and federal public, safety agency was represented from the Mexican border to as far north as Visalia. About 80 CHP officers attended, from state Commissioner Jim Smith to Indio office Capt. Ken Myatt and Brandt’s co-workers.

According to CHP accounts of the accident, Brandt was pursuing a pickup truck down the twisting Highway 74 grade south of Palm Desert May 6, when his patrol car struck a small hill, became airborne and overturned down an embankment. He was airlifted by helicopter to Eisenhower Medical Center where he died a short time later.

The pickup truck investigators believe Brandt was chasing went off the roadway about three miles downhill of the point where the CHP car crashed. The pickup’s driver, Daniel Lee Thompkins, 29, of Fallbrook, was taken into custody on suspicion of felony manslaughter, felony drunken driving and child endangerment. His two children, Robert, 4, and Charley, 3, were in the truck.

Brandt, of Bermuda Dunes, was an eight-year veteran of the force. Starting in the El Centro area office in 1980, he was transferred to Indio in November 1981. He was the first local CHP officer killed on duty in 17 years.

In October 1986, Deputy Keith Farley was involved in two separate incidents; an on-duty automobile accident and he was kicked in the head while arresting a suspect. Farley died as a result of these incidents.

Police Officer Benjamin Worcester’s forte was arrests.

Worcester died March 25, doing what fellow officers say he did best while answering a routine call that exploded in violence.

“He was really good at arresting people, he brought a lot of people that needed to go to jail to jail,” said Sgt. Tom West, his roommate.

In his fifth year with the Hayward Police Department, Worcester was respected as an officer whose skills were so good he was used to train new recruits.

“Ben was excellent, there was no question in anybody’s mind that he was a good cop,” West said. “Ben just wanted to be the best person he could be.”

Known to his friends as “Benjie,” Worcester, 29, loved working as a police officer. “It was real important to him,” West said.

Worcester just finished training a rookie officer recently and planned to take a sergeant’s exam the next time it was offered.

“It’s just real rough to deal with,” said West, who spent off time skiing with Worcester. “We did everything together.”

Worcester graduated in 1975 from Irvington High in Fremont, according to a high school friend who brought Worcester’s girlfriend to the hospital.

After high school, he joined the Navy where he worked as a mechanic on jets. Later he became a base officer at Alameda Naval Air Station, and that experience convinced him he wanted to be a police officer, the friend said.

“He really liked working for Hayward,” she said.

Since his days with the Navy, Worcester loved airplanes and planned to begin taking flying lessons this summer, West said.

“He was a really nice guy, he was always in a good mood,” said paramedic Rudy Leuver. “A lot of police officers, when we drive by and wave, they don’t do anything,” emergency medical technician Andrew Schedl said. “We’d wave, and he would smile and wave back.”

“He was one of ours,” said emergency medical technician Marc Mestrovich a member of the ambulance crew that took Worcester to Eden Hospital. Worcester had been stabbed to death in a violent fight involving two other officers and a man welding a torch made from an aerosol can, officials said. “It’s different when it’s somebody in the emergency field like you are.”

Police officers gathered outside Eden Hospital’s emergency room awaiting word of his condition.

Sgt. Dennis Houghtelling, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, had known Worcester since he joined the force.

Visibly shaken himself, Houghtelling comforted friends and fellow officers as they arrived at the hospital. Never, he said, had he had to answer a call where a fellow officer needed emergency medical help.

In uniform and in street clothes, the officers hugged each other and cried, mourning the loss.

Officer K.R. Powell sat on the curb outside the emergency room and wept.

“We’re real close friends,” said West, who told Worcester’s girlfriend he died on duty when she arrived at the hospital. “I think what I’ll probably remember most is what a good friend he was.”