Newsom orders Capitol flags flown at half-staff for San Diego police detectives killed in crash

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered flags at the state Capitol to be flown at half-staff to honor the married San Diego police detectives who were killed by a wrong-way driver last week.

Detective Jamie Huntley-Park, 33, and Detective Ryan Park, 32, died Friday morning when the driver of a wrong-way car on south Interstate 5 in San Ysidro slammed head on into their unmarked department sedan. The couple and the woman driving the other car — whose name officials have not yet released, but who has been identified in news reports — died at the scene.

“Jennifer (Siebel Newsom) and I are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of Detective Park and Detective Huntley-Park, a young married couple dedicated to public service,” Newsom said in a Wednesday statement. “Our thoughts go out to their loved ones, friends and their law enforcement family at the San Diego Police Department.”

The couple, who did not have children, met and began dating while in the San Diego police academy in 2012 and married in 2016. They both were promoted to detective in 2018. Police Chief David Nisleit said they were off work Friday but were following up on cases when they were killed.

The pair lived in Escondido, where community members and fellow police officers gathered Sunday for a vigil. City Heights community members also honored the couple Tuesday night, while earlier in the day a procession of more than 100 officers escorted their caskets from the county Medical Examiner’s Office to a mortuary.

Services for the couple are expected to be held next Tuesday.

Wednesday marked the third time in June that Newsom ordered Capitol flags flown at half-staff to honor fallen public servants. He also did so June 2 for two separate incidents: to honor San Bernardino sheriff’s Sgt. Dominic Vaca, who was shot and killed during a May 31 pursuit, and Los Angeles County Firefighter Specialist Tory Carlon, who was fatally shot by a colleague at a fire station in Agua Dulce.