A San Jose police community service officer was killed and another seriously injured Saturday night after being hit by a suspected impaired driver.
The crash occurred while officers were “conducting traffic control for an unrelated incident on Monterey Road,” the San Jose Police Department said Sunday afternoon in a statement published on social media. The driver was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
The job of community officer is a civil service created in 2014; officers respond to and investigate lower-priority calls for service, according to the police department website.
The department has not released information about the identity of the officer or the driver or other key details about the incident, including whether charges were filed, and exactly when and where the crash occurred.
“Our entire law enforcement family is devastated by this line of duty death, and our united arms are around his family, friends and teammates as we all deal with this painful event,” the department said.
“We are also praying for our other CSO [community service officer] who suffered serious injuries in the traffic collision and is still hospitalized. May she have a speedy recovery.”
A representative of the San Jose Police Department’s media relations unit said by email that the department would provide more information during a news conference at its headquarters at 3 p.m. Monday. The event will be streamed live on the department’s website Instagram page.
“This is the first CSO fatality in SJPD history,” Sunday’s statement said. “We pray it will be the last.”