Services will be held Saturday for Sheriff's Deputy Kenneth Collier, who died February 28 of injuries sustained in pursuit of a wrong-way driver in Santee. The memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 6 at 10 a.m. at Shadow Mountain Church, 2100 Greenfield Drive in El Cajon. A closed-casket viewing will be held on Friday, March 5 from 5-9 p.m. at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary, 4300 Imperial Avenue in San Diego.



Emergency responders, including a traditional crossed-ladders fire truck, will lead a procession from Qualcomm Stadium to the memorial service to honor the fallen deputy.


Collier was attempting to overtake a wrong-way driver on State Route 52 shortly after 3 a.m. on February 28 when his patrol SUV struck a center median and rolled several hundred feet down a ravine . He was airlifted to a local trauma center but despite treatment by emergency personnel, succumbed to his injuries.



Ryan Debellis, a dispatcher riding along, was also injured but is expected to make a full recovery. The wrong-way driver, Jose Jasso Lopez, 22, of San Diego, was arrested and faces pending charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence.


Collier graduated from Santana High School in Santee in 1988 and attended Grossmont College in El Cajon, where he majored in administration of justice. He worked for the Marshal's office and later as a field service officer and court service officer. In 2001, he was hired as a detention/court deputy sheriff, later serving as a law enforcement deputy sheriff. Deputy Collier was transferred to the Santee patrol station in 2006. He is survived by his fiancé, Karen Li, sister Nancy Robinson, and brother Lauren Collier.


A memorial fund has been established for the Collier family. Donations may be made at any San Diego County Credit Union to the Kenneth J. Collier Memorial Fund.

Garden of Tribute Niche 21 - Q

SAN DIEGO — An on-duty Santee sheriff's deputy was killed and his passenger was injured early Sunday after his patrol vehicle plunged several hundred feet down a freeway embankment while attempting to overtake a wrong-way driver.

Deputy Ken Collier, 39, and sheriff's dispatcher Ryan Debellis, who was getting a ride to work, were heading west on state Route 52 a little after 3 a.m. and were about halfway between Santo Road and Mast Boulevard when Collier spotted the driver heading east, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said.

Collier made a U-turn and tried to overtake the vehicle on its right, driving in an auxiliary lane, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings.

"He was trying to prevent a serious collision," Pennings said.

That lane abruptly ended and the deputy's marked Ford Expedition hit a concrete abutment and plunged over the side, rolling several times before coming to a stop near the bottom of the ravine and bursting into flames, Pennings said.



Collier radioed that he had been ejected from the SUV and it's believed that Debellis got out on his own, Gore said.

The deputy was taken to a hospital via helicopter where he died about 5:30 a.m. Debellis suffered bruises and will be hospitalized overnight but is expected to recover, Gore said. His age was not released.

The wrong-way driver, identified as Jose Jasso Lopez, 22, of San Diego was pulled over a couple of miles from the crash scene and taken into custody. He will face, at minimum, felony charges of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, Pennings said. When stopped he was still heading in the wrong direction.

Pennings said it is very early in the investigation and questions as to the speeds both drivers were traveling, if the deputy and his passenger were wearing seat belts, and other factors that led to the crash have not yet been answered.

"There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle we don't have yet," Pennings said. Visibility may have been a factor as there was fog in the area at the time.



Collier had been with the Sheriff's Department since 2000 and prior to that he worked for the San Diego County Marshal's Office for three years, Gore said.

Engaged to be married in June, he is survived by his brother and sister, the Sheriff said.

Gore said Collier's death affects not only the 2,400 sworn deputies but all 4,000 employees of the Sheriff's Department as well as the larger law enforcement community.

"We have men and women in this county that really put their life on the line to protect all of us," Gore said. "When one of them loses their life it impacts everybody."

Undersheriff Jim Cooke said Collier was a professional who was very well respected and was a popular member of his team. Collier's fiance, siblings, and several friends and co-workers were at the hospital when he died, Cooke said.

"You can only imagine the shock to lose a loved one so suddenly and so violently," he said.

He said deputies take an oath to protect and to serve and they understand the risks of their profession. "But that doesn't stop our people from doing their jobs," he said.

Collier is the first sheriff's deputy to die in the line of duty since February 1997 when 42-year-old Deputy Pat Coyle was killed in an ASTREA helicopter crash.

He and pilot Ron Hobson were on a routine patrol of Sycamore Canyon when Hobson radioed that the chopper had lost power. The aircraft went down north of Santee Lakes where witnesses broke the glass canopy and pulled both crew members out. Coyle died at a hospital about three hours later.

His niche is on the bottom of section Q which is the column in the center with the tall vase to the right

Dedicated Dec 10, 2016.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-park-deputy-20161210-story.html

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