Officer dies after being involved in off-duty traffic crash, LAPD says
A Los Angeles police officer who was injured in an off-duty traffic accident earlier this week died Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
News of the death of Kathleen Talbot was posted on the Internet by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who offered condolences.
Talbot was a patrol officer at the Rampart Station, according to Officer Nuria Vanegas of the department’s media relations section. Vanegas did not say how old Talbot was or how long she had been with the department.
In 2011, Talbot had been honored by the LAPD for helping save the life of an arrested person who had been trying to commit suicide inside a holding cell at the station, Vanegas said.
The single-vehicle crash that Talbot was involved in occurred about 6:30 a.m. Thursday in Santa Clarita. A witness told radio station KHTS that he saw Talbot’s vehicle cross the center line on Valencia Boulevard and crash into a light pole.
The witness said he never saw Talbot apply the brakes and assumed she had lost consciousness before the crash.
A fire department spokesman told City News Service that firefighters planned to offer a salute along an undisclosed route as the officer’s body was taken to a downtown location later Saturday.
jean.merl@latimes.com
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