Motorcycle cops were moving fast

Motorcycle officers who collided during a police funeral, killing one and injuring the other, were moving at high speed and were not using their sirens or lights, a motorist whose car was struck said Friday.

John R. Mitchell, 67, of Torrance, said he was still shaken a day after an officer was thrown from his motorcycle into oncoming traffic and struck his 1998 Toyota sedan.

Mitchell wasn't hurt but "if it (the motorcycle) had gone through the windshield, I'd be a goner," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

Andrew Garton, 44, was helping escort the funeral procession Thursday for a police officer in nearby Manhattan Beach who had died of cancer. His motorcycle collided with that of Sgt. Rex Fowler of the El Segundo Police Department.

Mitchell said he was stopped in traffic on northbound Hawthorne Boulevard and saw dozens of southbound cars in the funeral motorcade.

The two motorcycles were in a line and as the first one turned slightly, the second struck it hard from behind, Mitchell said.

"They hit each other and one of them flew into the other lane," he said.

Fowler received a broken leg and was hospitalized in stable condition Friday after undergoing a successful surgery, Torrance police Sgt. Jeremiah Hart said.

"The doctors are really pleased with the outcome and they think he'll be fully recovered within six months," the sergeant said.

Garton was the first officer to die in the line

of duty in the 89-year history of the Hawthorne police force.

Many Hawthorne officers were off-duty on Friday as they tried to deal with the tragedy, and personnel from neighboring departments were helping patrol the community in southeastern Los Angeles County.

Garton and Fowler were providing traffic control for the funeral of Manhattan Beach Officer Mark Vasquez, 36, who died of cancer earlier this month.

"When that crash happened, a majority of the motorcycle officers pulled off so they could assist" while a few conducted Vasquez's family to the grave site, Hart said.

"After the burial, once that was all done, the family was notified (of Garton's crash)," Hart said. "That's emotional for them, too."

The cause of the crash remained under investigation by the CHP.

Mitchell said both officers were traveling surprisingly fast alongside the slow motorcade.

"Why are they going so fast in a funeral procession?" he said. "It wasn't a chase or anything."

Eyewitnesses have said the officers appeared to be "leapfrogging," a procedure in which officers stop to block cross-traffic so slow-moving processions can go through red lights, then race ahead to block the next cross-street.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18158541?source=rss

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