Elk Grove officer among several recently killed in the line of duty in Sacramento area
News of the Elk Grove Police Department motorcycle officer killed Friday morning in a crash with a wrong-way driver on Highway 99 in Sacramento reverberated among law enforcement agencies in the capital region.
Agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, the Sacramento Police Department, the Davis Police Department and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office quickly took to social media to offer Elk Grove police their condolences and support.
These law enforcement agencies and others in the Sacramento area have been through it before, losing officers and deputies in the line of duty in recent years.
Officer Harminder Grewal
Galt Police Officer Harminder Grewal also died in a traffic collision on Highway 99. On Aug. 22, he and his partner, Officer Kapri Herrera, were on their way to work at the Caldor Fire burning in El Dorado County as part of the state’s mutual aid program.
The officers were involved in a head-on vehicle crash on Highway 99, near Dillard Road just south of Elk Grove. Grewal died from his injuries at a hospital four days after the crash. Herrera suffered serious injuries in the crash and was in an intensive care unit until she was released from the hospital Sept. 3.
Grewal had worked at the Galt Police Department for 2½ years, starting in the patrol division. He was also a member of the department’s honor guard and in 2020 was named the department’s Officer of the Year.
Last month, the fallen officer was posthumously awarded a bachelor’s degree from Union Institute & University at Galt Police Department. Cincinnati-based Union has campuses in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Grewal was only a few credits shy of earning his degree in criminal justice management from Union Institute & University.
Deputy Adam Gibson
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Gibson was killed Jan. 18, 2021, in a shootout with a suspect on Cal Expo grounds. After a brief vehicle pursuit, the suspect opened fire on Gibson, another deputy and a K-9 named Riley. The dog also was killed, and the second deputy was injured.
At his funeral, Gibson’s family said he found direction and purpose in the Sheriff’s Office after his time with the U.S. Marine Corps serving two tours in Afghanistan.
The Sheriff’s Office awarded Gibson a Bronze Star for Bravery and a Major Incident Ribbon in 2018. He received the Bronze Star for directing a tour bus to drive under a pedestrian bridge over Highway 99 in Elk Grove, where a man was threatening to commit suicide. The bus was there to catch the man just before he lost his grip and fell, saving the man from injury.
On Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office honored Gibson on the one-year anniversary of his death and thanked community members for offering support.
“One year ago Deputy Gibson was slain in a senseless act of violence and yesterday, as we remembered his legacy, we truly felt the love and support of our community,” sheriff’s officials wrote in a Facebook post. “Several of you reached out to us with your kind words and thoughtful gifts to commemorate Deputy Gibson.”
Officer Natalie Corona
Davis Police Officer Natalie Corona was slain in what has been described as an indiscriminate “ambush” that occurred on the evening of Jan. 10, 2019. The officer was near 5th and D streets in downtown Davis responding to a minor traffic collision when a gunman approached the area on bicycle, fatally shot Corona, opened fire on vehicles and homes in the surrounding area, then took his own life.
Corona had completed her field training just a few weeks before she was shot and killed by an armed suspect.
In November, Caltrans unveiled road signs for Officer Natalie Corona Memorial Highway in Arbuckle, the officer’s hometown. The Davis Police Department in January 2020 unveiled a memorial to honor Corona and another of its fallen officers, Douglas Cantrill, who was 23 years old when he died September 1959 after being shot by his own service weapon.
In February 2019, the Sacramento Police Department named a new helicopter after Corona. A Yolobus that was struck during the shooting was also rededicated and named in Corona’s honor.
Officer Tara O’Sullivan
A few months after Corona was killed in the line of duty, Sacramento Police Officer Tara O’Sullivan was gunned down in an “ambush” style attack on June 19, 2019. The officer was in north Sacramento helping a woman involved in a domestic dispute remove her belongings from a house.
O’Sullivan and her partner, Officer Daniel Chipp, had been at the home for about 30 minutes when they approached a detached garage and the suspect fired a high-powered rifle from inside the garage.
O’Sullivan started volunteering at police stations in her home town at a young age. and was part of the first class of graduates of Sacramento State’s Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars program in 2017. O’Sullivan was the only female among the first four graduates.
She was nearing the completion of her training as an officer at the Sacramento Police Department. She had been with the department for less than a year.
Deputy Brian Ishmael
El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael was killed Oct. 23, 2019, when he and an off-duty San Joaquin County sheriff’s deputy came under fire while responding to a 911 call at a property in Somerset. The off-duty deputy and one of the suspects were injured in the shootout.
Authorities say the property owner called 911 to report thieves were stealing marijuana from his property in a ruse, because he believed two men renting a marijuana growing site at his home were planning to take the plants without giving him $3,000 they still owed. Three men have been indicted in Ishmael’s death, including the property owner.
Ishmael had worked for the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office for four years. Before that, he attended a police academy in 2012 and joined the Placerville Police Department where he worked as a field training officer, school resource officer, and armorer.
Deputy Mark Stasyuk
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Stasyuk was killed on Sept. 17, 2018, when a gunman opened fire as Stasyuk and his partner, Deputy Julie Robertson, responded to a routine disturbance call at a Pep Boys Auto Parts store in Rancho Cordova. The deputies returned fire.
Stasyuk died from his injuries at a hospital a few hours later. Robertson suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. The gunman suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the gun battle.
Stasyuk was a 4 1/2-year veteran with the Sheriff’s Office. Stasyuk and Robertson were assigned to the Rancho Cordova Police Department. The Sheriff’s Office provides deputies to Rancho Cordova on contract.
Stasyuk attended Sacramento State as a criminal justice major in 2016, as reported by The State Hornet. He appeared in a “Student Success” promotional video for the university’s college of continuing education.
CHP Officer Lucas Chellew
California Highway Patrol Officer Lucas Chellew died in a traffic collision while pursing a fleeing motorcyclist in a high-speed chase on Fruitridge Road, east of Highway 99, in south Sacramento County. Chellew, a motorcycle officer, lost control of his motorcycle after he was inadvertently cut off by another vehicle and crashed into a pole.
Chellew was an eight-year veteran of the CHP in its South Sacramento Area Office. The motorcyclist convicted for his role in the CHP officer’s death was released early from prison, after serving less than four years of his 10-year sentence. He was arrested again May 5 on charges of assaulting a relative with a gun, making threats and illegal possession of a gun.
This story was originally published January 21, 2022 at 1:55 PM.
