Suspect Held in Slaying of Corona Police Officer

Corona police, tipped by an informant’s telephone call, arrested a 26-year-old Pomona man late Tuesday as a suspect in the freeway shooting death of their fellow officer, Patricia Dwyer.

Harold Harvey Hawks was arrested at a friend’s house in Pomona and is being held in Riverside County Jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and firing a weapon at an occupied vehicle, said Lt. Bob Martin, commander of detectives.

Martin declined to specify the evidence that led investigators to Hawks, but he said that a car similar to that described by witnesses was seized by police. “We have a big white car in custody,” he said.

Police Chief’s View

Police Chief John Cleghorn said he is confident that police have a strong case linking Hawks to the shooting that killed Dwyer and seriously injured another woman Friday night.

Police investigators--working with little more than a partial license plate number and a rough description of the gunman and his car--had appealed to the public for information on the shooting. A $10,000 reward had been announced.

“This procedure of going to the public was . . . very difficult on the family,” Dwyer’s husband, Mike, said, “but it was necessary. As far as I’m concerned, we had to do whatever it took.”

Details of the investigation will be disclosed at a press conference this afternoon, Martin said.

Also on Tuesday, the slain officer’s son came home from Riverside General Hospital, where he was being treated for shock and for injuries he received in a motorcycle accident.

“My son is home. He got out of the hospital today, and he’s happy to be home,” Mike Dwyer said. “. . . My kids are sticking together, and they’re doing much better.”

According to police, Patricia Dwyer was among five people in the family’s van last Friday night as it headed back to Riverside from the Orange County Fairgrounds, where her son Mark had been racing his motorcycle.

Mike Dwyer was driving, and he was in a hurry because Mark, 24, had been injured in a race and he was taking him to Riverside General Hospital for an examination.

Bright Lights Flashed

They were driving through Santa Ana Canyon when a slower car pulled into the fast lane in front of the van, and Mike Dwyer flashed his bright lights, police said. The driver did not move out of the way but “made an obscene gesture at the occupants of Dwyer’s van,” police said.

Mike Dwyer finally passed to the right of the car, remaining in front of it as they drove through Corona. Near the center of the city, the car pulled alongside the van and its driver motioned Dwyer to pull over to the right.

“Somebody in the van made the comment, ‘He’s getting off the freeway,’ ” said Lt. Bob Martin, commander of detectives for the Corona Police Department. Just as Patricia Dwyer leaned forward to look out the window, a single 12-gauge slug was fired from the other car. It cut an inch-wide hole in the van’s metal door and inner wall.

Friend Injured

The bullet tore through Patricia Dwyer’s chest, killing her, then struck a family friend, Wendy Varga, in the throat. The soft lead bullet passed in front of Mark Dwyer, who was sitting on the bench seat between the two women.

Varga remained hospitalized Tuesday at Corona Community Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition. Her left arm is paralyzed, and she is unable to speak, police said.

Varga was able to give investigators a piece of the gunman’s license plate number, a clue that received wide attention but apparently did not play a part in Tuesday night’s arrest.

As the investigation was going on, Corona police officers also were making plans to honor their department’s first female police officer at a funeral planned for Thursday morning.

Officers’ Memories

Veteran police officers recalled learning the ropes from Dwyer, who worked as a dispatcher for four years before attending the police academy and becoming an officer eight years ago.

“She was one of the nicest, gentlest people I know. . . . Everybody liked her,” said Martin, the commander of detectives. “When guys (on the force) had problems and needed someone to talk to, they would go to Pat.”

Dwyer’s daughter, Michelle, has spoken with several Corona police officers since the shooting, she said. “I’m trying to be strong and not cry, and there (they are), crying on me.”