San Ysidro, CA–A wrong-way driver collided with another vehicle Friday morning killing her and two San Diego police detectives on Interstate 5 near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Ysidro, authorities said.
Authorities said a woman was driving a white Honda Civic nearly 90 miles per hour down Interstate 5 when she slammed into the detectives’ marked city-owned blue Ford Fusion sedan. Her vehicle began to burst into flames after the impact.
Southbound I-5 near State Route 905 was shutdown for several hours while authorities investigated the incident.
At a news conference, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit identified the detectives as 32-year-old Ryan Park and his wife, 33-year-old Jamie Huntley-Park.
Chief Nisleit described Ryan Park as a “remarkable patrol officer” who rose to the ranks to become a homicide detective. His wife Jaime, who was assigned to the San Diego Police Department Southern Division, was described as “ an outstanding officer and detective.”
In April 2012, the Parks first met at the San Diego police academy. They married in 2016, and were promoted to the rank of detective in 2018.
“I was honored to promote both of those two to detective,” Chief Nisleit said. “Both their lives and careers were definitely on a very, very rapid trend upward just doing amazing work.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released a statement on Twitter about the fatal collision:
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn our two San Diego police officers whose lives were tragically taken this morning. In the coming days, we will learn more about these public servants who proudly donned the badge to keep all of us safe and we will honor them for their service.”
Information about the female driver’s identity has not been released. Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the crash.
