A woman who was struck and killed early Saturday by a Buena Park police car was identified by the Orange County coroner's office as 33-year-old Katherine Tinnell.
She died near Orangethorpe Avenue and Oregon Street, where she was struck around 1 a.m. by the unit on its way to a call, according to Buena Park Police Cpl. Andy Luong.
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The spokesman, who told City News Service he did not know if Tinnell was in crosswalks or if the police car had its lights and sirens on, indicated the California Highway Patrol's Westminster office is investigating.
The news service cites published reports stating it was a police canine unit. Luong, who called this the first fatal accident involving a Buena Park cop car hitting a pedestrian, declined to name the officer behind the wheel.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
I love U and miss U Katie, I’ll never forget our friendship. I’ll never really know what happened. It’s so very sad!