Deputy Manuel Villegas down :(
http://officer.com/article/article.j...ion=2&id=35363
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A sheriff's deputy was killed today in a head-on collision involving a wrong-way driver, who also died, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Deputy Manuel Villegas, 33, died at the scene of the accident, which occurred just before 1 a.m. at Pierce Street and 63rd Avenue in Thermal, said sheriff's Deputy Juan Zamora.
Villegas had been on his way to a domestic violence call and was driving behind another deputy's vehicle, according to Officer Tami Low with the CHP.
"The first officer swerved to avoid a Nissan Maxima that was in the wrong lane. Deputy Villegas, in a second vehicle, was unable to avoid colliding with the Maxima, and the two drivers were killed when their vehicles crashed head-on," Low said.
The coroner's office did not immediately release the identity of the driver of the Maxima.
A toxicology report that will determine whether that driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash should be ready in about several weeks, Low said.
Villegas, who lived in Indio, had been with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for 17 months, Zamora said.
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