Fontana CA Police officer killed..

**Illiy** · 08-09-07, 04:29 PM

Policeman mourned
Vibrant, young officer was killed in motorcycle crash
By Jannise Johnson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/08/2007 11:08:45 PM PDT

Jose Manuel Molina Jr.

FONTANA - The death of the young, vibrant and active often leaves the same imprint on those who loved them: Shock and disbelief.
That's the case for those who knew Jose Manuel Molina Jr., 28, of Fontana, a police patrol officer who died in a crash Monday morning.
Fellow Fontana police Officer Joshua MacMillan, 24, considered Molina one of his best friends. He said they'd known each other for 14 years.
"It's hard to handle; I still can't believe it," MacMillan said. "I'm trying to be strong for his family. I was there when both of his daughters were born. I've been a part of him and he's been a part of me for years."
Molina was riding east on Foothill Boulevard when he struck a tractor-trailer near Almond Avenue early Monday morning. The truck had just pulled out of the WinCo Foods supermarket to make a left turn.
The impact threw Molina off his motorcycle, and he suffered "catastrophic injuries," according to the California Highway Patrol.
Fontana police said Molina was off work; he was due back Monday night. Sgt. Jeff Decker said he believed Molina was riding home at the time of the 2:27 a.m. crash. When asked what she will miss most about her husband, Jackie Molina said there were almost too many things to list.

After a thoughtful pause at her parents' home in Fontana on Wednesday, she said, "His love and protection."
She and her parents, Cheri and Tom Graves, recalled Molina's endless curiosity.
"Everything was new to him," Tom Graves said. "He was like a bright-eyed kid whenever he experienced something new."
And Molina had much to experience. As a child whose parents did not have much money, lavish birthday celebrations and family vacations were new for him. But his enthusiasm didn't stop there, his wife said.
He played racquetball before work in the afternoon and enjoyed staying physically fit, she said. Molina was also involved in sports and had been a member of the Westminster High School Academic Decathlon team in 1994.
Having a workout buddy to push him to new physical heights is just one of many things MacMillan said he will miss about Molina.
"We pushed each other," MacMillan said. "He was there for me I was there for him. That's what's going to be the hardest. To get back to work and not have him be there with me. It's unbearable."
Jackie and Jose Molina met in 1998 when she was working at a gas station in Fontana, she said. Jose Molina would constantly come in to the station's market to buy bottled water.
When they began to date, she said the back seat of his Honda CRX was filled with empty water bottles. She recalled playing video games with him on some of their date nights, and how she eventually encouraged him to play soccer with her and his cousins.
In addition to his enthusiasm for video games, sports and physical fitness, he was also a man of considerable sensitivity, those who knew him recalled. He was especially emotional after the birth of his first daughter.
"He cried when our first was born," his wife said. "He hid behind me so I couldn't see him."
Their older daughter, now 6, wonders who will protect her now that her daddy is gone, Cheri Graves said.
The little girl insisted upon going to school Tuesday. She took the newspaper with her father's picture on it and held it close to her on the drive to the campus, Cheri Graves said.
Molina is also survived by his younger daughter, who is 3. Funeral services are scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 17080 Arrow Blvd. in Fontana.