Well, it was a sad Chrismas for a CHP Family. I lost a classmate from the Academy on Dec. 15th and attended his funeral on Dec. 22nd, our official 1 year anniversary from becoming Officers.
Officer Sanders was working on Monday, Dec. 15th, with his graveyard partner, Officer Lopez, another classmate. They responded to a call of a solo vehicle collision blocking the slow lane of Hwy 60 in Sante Fe Springs. It was pouring down rain when they showed up on scene, and Lopez went to check on the party in the vehicle. Sanders popped the trunk and started putting out flares to get traffic to merge. It was about 0430 hours when two cars traveling towards the scene saw the flares and tried to merge to the left. Both cars collided into each other and spun out of control. One of the vehicles hit Sanders and propelled him onto the right shoulder, over a temporary wall. Lopez put out an 1199 at 0430 and at 0432 he put out that Sanders was not breathing. Everyone showed up, they shut down the freeway and he was life flighted out of there. He was pronounced at the hospital, but I'm sure he died on scene.
This was the first CHP funeral I've been to and it was amazing. It was so crazy to see how personal it was and how much "family" really means to the CHP. It wasn't like I thought it would be. All the "brass" was there, the Commisioner, the Head of Secretary, the Governor, etc.... Every high ranking officer, including the Commisioner, was crying as they spoke about Officer Sanders and how strong his wife is. I didn't really think I "needed" to go to the funeral for closure, but being that Sanders was my company mate, I spent 27 weeks with him, and he was our Guidon (company flag bearer) the entire time, I'm glad I went. I cried, and didn't think I would. Seeing the pictures of him playing with his 3 kids, his wife, and knowing he was expecting another child is tough.
Here are some pictures from SacBee and my camera.
http://cbs2.com/local/Highway.Patrol.Officer.2.887803.html
http://www.sacbee.com/photos/gallery/1493543.html
Officer Joe Sanders, you will always be remembered. RIP