FUNERAL FOR DEPUTY KENNETH COLLIER SET FOR SATURDAY

Law enforcement plans procession from Qualcomm Stadium to Shadow Mountain Church in El Cajon to honor fallen deputy

March 3, 2010 (El Cajon) – 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.