O.C. Officer Dies After Crash; Driver Arrested : Accident: Police say suspect was drunk when he ran a red light at 60 m.p.h. and collided with patrol car.

LA HABRA — A police officer on routine patrol was fatally injured when a drunk-driving suspect ran a red light and smashed into his cruiser, demolishing it and pinning the officer inside, authorities said Tuesday.

Officer Michael Osornio, 26, a former contractor who joined the La Habra Police Department 14 months ago and was recently engaged to be married, succumbed to internal injuries an hour after the collision at 9:22 p.m. Monday.

Osornio became the first officer on the city’s police force to be killed on duty. Thirty-two officers have been killed on duty in Orange County since 1912.

“I’m proud to have known him. Being a policeman was one of his dreams,” said Robert Skipper, father of Osornio’s fiancee, Chartina Skipper. “He wanted to be a police officer so much, he would have done it for nothing.”

Police arrested Marco Villegas Ramirez, 51, of La Mirada on suspicion of murder, Capt. Terry Rammell said. Ramirez, who was in stable condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with facial injuries, was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.18%--more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, Rammell said.

The car that struck and killed Osornio was traveling at least 60 m.p.h. and weaving along Beach Boulevard, prompting a witness to telephone police even as the collision occurred, Rammell said. Police said witnesses reported seeing the vehicle bouncing off the curb as it sped north on Beach before colliding with Osornio’s westbound cruiser at the intersection of Beach and La Habra Boulevard, Rammell said.

Ramirez’s co-workers described him as a quiet, fatherly figure who never joined colleagues for drinks after work and often warned them against drinking and driving.

“At Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers, he never drank in excess. I only saw him drink two beers at the most,” said Marc Maligalig, a co-worker at Lindblade Metalworks Inc. in La Mirada. “All of us are pretty devastated. But I feel worse for the family of the police officer.”

Police who received calls reporting the crash did not know at first that it involved one of their own. A dispatcher radioed Osornio to send him to the scene, but he did not respond, said police spokeswoman Cindy Knapp. Officer Kari Armstrong, the second officer sent to the accident, arrived to find her injured colleague.

“She said, ‘Mike, come on, wake up, wake up.’ And the guy didn’t respond or anything,” said Victorio Toscano, a clerk at a nearby auto parts store who ran to the scene of the collision.

On Tuesday, the spot had been turned into a memorial site as fellow officers and city residents stopped to place flowers and pay respects to Osornio, described as a hard-working cop gifted with keen instincts and a wry wit.

A 1986 graduate of Walnut High School in Walnut, Osornio made good on a longtime dream to become a police officer when he put himself through the police academy at Golden West College last year and was hired soon afterward for the 70-member force in La Habra. Around the station house, he was frequently consulted for his carpentry knowhow and renowned for a dry sense of humor, colleagues said.

As a rookie officer, Osornio distinguished himself through his role in a team arrest of a rape suspect this year, Rammell said. Another time, Osornio chatted up a driver he had stopped long enough to find out the man was on parole. A search of the car turned up enough evidence to make an arrest for drugs and weapons possession, said Sgt. Jeff Love, Osornio’s supervisor at the time.

Osornio had moved with his family four years ago to Chino, where neighbors described him as helpful, outgoing and well-liked.

“He was a real nice, easygoing guy,” said John Whiteman, 37, who lives across the street from Osornio’s parents and had seen Osornio on Monday afternoon stopping on his way to work. “He would wave to you all the time and if he saw you working; he’d always stop and ask if you needed help.”

Skilled with his hands like his father, a professional bricklayer, Osornio could often be seen helping out with family construction projects.

“They’re a really close family,” Whiteman said. “Sunday was family day. You’d always see them out doing things together.”

The young officer, a boating and water-skiing enthusiast who remodeled old houses, recently moved in with his high school sweetheart, Chartina Skipper, who owned a home in nearby Montclair. The two planned to marry soon.

Huddled in the front yard of Osornio’s parents’ sprawling, ranch-style home in Chino, clusters of the officer’s longtime friends hugged his father, who at times was in tears.

Rafael Osornio wept when approached by a reporter outside the home. “What can I say?” he asked.

Tony Robledo, who grew up with Osornio, added: “Mike was one of my closest friends and I’m going to miss him. He died a hero in my eyes.” At the time of the crash, Osornio was about an hour into his overnight shift patrolling the city’s southwest corner. His evening had been uneventful until the collision, Rammell said.

Investigators sought Tuesday to determine where Ramirez, a sheet-metal worker who they said had never been arrested for drunk driving, had been before the crash. Ramirez received two traffic tickets--one for failure to signal in 1992 and one for speeding in September--and was involved in a car accident last year, according to court records and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

A resident alien who had been employed at the small metal-working plant for four years, Ramirez had a solid work record but had been beset by personal problems in recent months, said Marilyn Lindblade, owner of the business.

Co-worker Maligalig said Ramirez was “trying to pull his life together, trying to build something, helping his son go to school and stay out of trouble. He was being a good father to his son. He lives for his children.”

Ramirez told colleagues he had been evicted from a Monterey Park apartment about six months ago because of problems with his son’s friends, who were considered troublemakers by the landlord, Lindblade said. Before that, Ramirez’s wife and two grown sons returned to Hidalgo, Mexico, to take over the family business after her father died, Lindblade said.

Since then, Ramirez had been sleeping on a couch in a vacant office at the company, she said.

Lindblade said Ramirez took the afternoon off Monday to talk to his son. “He left at noon and came back in the afternoon. He wasn’t drunk then, and didn’t seem to be upset or in a bad mood,” she said.

Co-workers said they did not know whether he left later.

“It was definitely an accident. It’s totally out of character,” Lindblade said. “He did not drink, smoke or do drugs. He didn’t go in for that sort of thing. He was not a party-type person.”

La Habra police and residents spent much of Tuesday comforting each other. Officers wore narrow black bands across their badges in memory of their fallen comrade--the second Southland officer to be mourned in a little more than a week after falling line of duty. Officers wore the same bands in memory of a Los Angeles police officer who was shot dead Oct. 21 while investigating possible drug dealing at a Hollywood motel.

“This is the first time I’ve had to wear one for my own officer,” Rammell said.

The lobby at the city’s police station, decorated with a photograph of Osornio, was decked with bouquets of flowers brought by residents. A memorial fund in Osornio’s name was being established at a local bank, officials said. Donations may be sent to the Michaal Osornio Memorial Fund, Sanwa Bank, 2015 W. La Habra Blvd., La Habra.

Capt. John Rees, one of a group of officers visiting Osornio’s parents Tuesday, said a psychologist would be on hand Tuesday night to counsel officers who were at the scene. “The La Habra Police Department is a small, family-oriented police department,” he said. “I know the names of all the people who work for me and I know the names of their wives. When a tragedy like this hits, it’s a significant event in the life of the department. The officers will remember Mike for a long time.”

Even strangers joined the mourning.

A group of four Sanwa employees visited the crash site at lunch time Tuesday. Only one of them had ever met Osornio, but that seemed to matter little.

“This is a very small community,” said one of the bank workers, Ada Gaughan. “Things that go on here affect everyone in the community--a police officer particularly. They’re friends here. They’re not the enemy.”

Times staff writers Anna Cekola, David Haldane, Rene Lynch, Susan Marquez Owen and Martin Miller contributed to this report.

* FEW OFFENDERS CAUGHT: In California only one drunk driver in 500 is arrested. A11

Roster of On-Duty Deaths

About 15 police officers are killed in the line of duty statewide each year. The death of La Habra Officer Michael Anthony Osornio brings to 32 the number of on-duty officers killed in Orange County, beginning in 1912.

Name: Robert Squires

Agency: O.C. Sheriff’s Department

Date: Dec. 16, 1912

How: Shot while attempting to arrest a rape suspect

*

Name: Edwin R. Jensen

Agency: Santa Ana PD

Date: Feb. 28, 1931

How: Lost control of his motorcycle and crashed while chasing speeding vehicle

*

Name: Ezra Stanley

Agency: O.C. Sheriff’s Department

Date: Nov. 19, 1940

How: Patrol car struck from behind

*

Name: Gordon G. French

Agency: Laguna Beach PD

Date: Feb. 13, 1953

How: Shot after being taken hostage by an escaped felon

*

Name: Camile E. Madere

Agency: California Highway Patrol

Date: Jan. 24, 1958

How: Motorcycle collided with dump truck

*

Name: Robert L. Shultz

Agency: O.C. Sheriff’s Department

Date: April 21, 1958

How: Shot after pulling over a family traveling in old school bus

*

Name: Myron L. Trapp

Agency: Garden Grove PD

Date: Oct. 6, 1959

How: Shot trying to arrest suspect in the shooting of a utility worker

*

Name: Leonard W. Winney

Agency: California Highway Patrol

Date: Nov. 12, 1959

How: Motorcycle collided with dump truck

*

Name: Robert D. Dale

Agency: California Highway Patrol

Date: March 10, 1960

How: Motorcycle collided with pickup truck

*

Name: John C. Marshall

Agency: Newport Beach PD

Date: Sept. 29, 1962

How: Motorcycle collided with car

*

Name: Nelson K. Sasscer

Agency: Santa Ana PD

Date: June 5, 1969

How: Shot by Black Panther Party member

*

Name: Andrew R. Reese

Agency: Garden Grove PD

Date: May 30, 1970

How: Struck by out-of-control vehicle while directing traffic

*

Name: Darrel D. Cate

Agency: Buena Park PD

Date: Sept. 21, 1972

How: Shot in home of felony suspect after becoming separated from partner

*

Name: Carl E. Wilson

Name: Donald W. Schneider

Agency: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Date: Jan. 4, 1973

How: Shot in Orange County home while pursuing a Los Angeles County murder suspect

*

Name: Waldron G. Karp

Agency: Tustin PD

Date: Jan. 7, 1973

How: Shot while trying to disarm barricaded suspect

*

Name: Leslie J. Prince

Agency: Huntington Beach PD

Date: Nov. 16, 1974

How: Struck by drunk driver while directing traffic

*

Name: Jerry S. Hatch

Agency: Fullerton PD

Date: June 30, 1975

How: Struck by drunk driver

*

Name: Gary A. Nelson

Agency: Anaheim PD

Date: Aug. 15, 1975

How: Helicopter crashed during narcotics surveillance

*

Name: Donald J. Sowman Sr.

Agency: Cypress PD

Date: Nov. 19, 1976

How: Shot while responding to silent burglar alarm

*

Name: Daniel A. Hale

Agency: Santa Ana PD

Date: Nov. 12, 1977

How: Shot while responding to burglary in progress

*

Name: Richard T. Steed

Agency: San Clemente PD

Date: Nov. 29, 1978

How: Shot while answering medical aid call

*

Name: Donald F. Reed

Agency: Garden Grove PD

Date: June 7, 1980

How: Shot while serving arrest warrant

*

Name: Michael L. Rainford

Agency: Garden Grove PD

Date: Nov. 7, 1980

How: Patrol car struck from behind by drunk driver

*

Name: Dave Ketchum

Name: Mike Libolt

Agency: Costa Mesa PD

Date: March 10, 1987

How: Police helicopter in midair collision while pursuing stolen car

*

Name: Edward Clavell Jr.

Agency: Seal Beach PD

Date: Aug. 23, 1988

How: Intersection collision while trying to catch speeder

*

Name: Robert Roulston

Agency: Anaheim PD

Date: Oct. 16, 1988

How: Crashed his motorcycle while assisting with traffic control

*

Name: Mark S. Tonkin

Agency: O.C. Sheriff’s Department

Date: Oct. 24, 1988

How: Helicopter crash during border surveillance flight

*

Name: Tommy De La Rosa

Agency: Fullerton PD

Date: June 21, 1990

How: Shot in ambush while working undercover narcotics

*

Name: Howard E. Dallies

Agency: Garden Grove PD

Date: March 9, 1993

How: Shot by motorcyclist during nighttime traffic stop

*

Name: Michael Anthony Osornio

Agency: La Habra PD

Date: Oct. 31, 1994

How: Killed when alleged drunk driver ran red light and collided with his patrol car

Source: Orange County Peace Officer Memorial