San Diego first responders offered a show of support Friday for a fallen San Diego police officer.
Patrol cars and fire trucks cars lined several overpasses along Interstate 805 and state Route 52 to pay tribute to Officer Austin Machitar, whose body was taken from the county medical examiner's office to a mortuary on Friday morning.
Deadly crash kills officer, injures another
Michitar, 30, who was hired by the department in March of 2019, died at the scene of a crash late on Monday night when his patrol car was T-boned by a teen driver following a police pursuit that had been called off.
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The procession Friday morning began at the county ME's office on Overland Avenue in Kearny Mesa and traveled to the El Camino Memorial Park Cemetery in Sorrento Valley, where it arrived around 10 a.m.
The crash that killed Machitar involved at least four vehicles around 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of Doliva Drive and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, just west of Interstate 805.
"Austin had a very infectious smile and a character that made him one of a kind,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said during a news conference at Sharp Memorial Hospital on Tuesday evening.
Machitar's partner that night, 27-year-old Officer Zachary Martinez, was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital with severe injuries and remains in critical condition, according to the police chief. Martinez has been with the department since March 2023 and is a Navy reservist.
Police say Machitar was a five-and-a-half-year veteran of the force who had a passion for training others. In fact, he trained Martinez, who remains hospitalized.
The San Diego Police Officers Association has a donation campaign to benefit the officer's families.
The teen driver, 16-year-old Edgar Giovanny Oviedo, who was unlicensed, was also killed in the crash.
