Hundreds of local law enforcement officers are expected to attend a memorial service Saturday, March 6, 2010, for San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy Ken Collier. Collier died last Sunday when he was pursuing a wrong-way driver on state Route 52.
Prosecutors say the driver Collier was chasing was drunk. Collier died when his patrol car smashed into a concrete support and plummeted into a ravine. The driver has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.
County Sheriff's Detective Sergeant Tom Poulin worked with Collier in the Santee substation. He says when Collier walked into a room, you noticed him.
"He was a large guy, he played football," Poulin recalls. "Tall, big guy, and he had a smile on his face most of the time, and that's how I remember him. I remember him coming into work, leaving work with a smile on his face."
Collier was an 11-year veteran with the Sheriff's department. He was engaged to be married later this year.
His memorial service will be held Saturday morning at a church in El Cajon.
