On February 28, 2010, after 3 a.m., Deputy Ken Collier and dispatcher Ryan Debellis noticed a wrong-way driver headed eastbound in the westbound lanes of Highway 52 in Santee, California. Concerned for the safety of the driving public, Deputy Collier advised dispatch and tried to overtake the driver. His patrol SUV struck a center median bridge abutment, rolled several hundred feet, and came to rest in a ravine and bursting into flames. Collier and Debellis were extracted from the ravine, treated by emergency medical personnel on site, and airlifted to local trauma centers. Despite valiant efforts to save him, Deputy Collier succumbed to his injuries. Debellis eventually made a full recovery.

Moments after the collision, the wrong-way driver, Jose Jasso Lopez, was apprehended by other Deputies and California Highway Patrol officers. The driver was charged with felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter, convicted and sentenced to nearly eight years in prison.

Born in Virginia, Deputy Collier had been a San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy since 2000, previously serving with the San Diego County Marshal’s Office for three years. He was described by fellow Deputies as “steadfast, dependable, and a people person,” and received exemplary annual performance reviews during his service as a Deputy. He left behind a fiancée whom he was set to marry only four months later. In Collier’s honor, the overpass bridge Deputy Collier was traveling on was renamed “Deputy Sheriff Kenneth James Collier Memorial Bridge / Oak Canyon Bridge.” In 2016, the Deputy Ken Collier Neighborhood Park in Santee was opened, named in his honor.

Sources
https://camemorial.org/honor-roll/tribute/ken-collier/
https://www.odmp.org/officer/20287-deputy-sheriff-kenneth-james-collier
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2010/03/01/deputy-killed-in-wrong-way-driver-pursuit/
https://www.sdsheriff.gov/bureaus/about-us/in-memoriam/deputy-ken-collier
https://www.facebook.com/DSASanDiego/posts/on-sunday-feb-28-2010-shortly-after-3-am-deputy-collier-and-his-ride-along-sheri/583308520488228/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48931583/kenneth-james-collier