Officer on Motorcycle Killed in Car Collision at Anaheim Stadium

A 15-year Anaheim Police motorcycle officer was killed Sunday in a collision with an automobile that was pulling into a parking lot at Anaheim Stadium, where fans were arriving for a Los Angeles Rams football game, police said.

Anaheim Police Lt. Jack Parra said a preliminary investigation found that motorcycle Officer Robert T. Roulston, 38, was traveling east on Katella Avenue between State College Boulevard and Howell Street at 11:50 a.m. when he collided with a car driven by Steven Earl Davis, 29, of Diamond Bar, who was westbound on Katella.

Davis attempted to make a left turn into the employee-media entrance of Anaheim Stadium, Parra said.

Roulston struck the right side of Davis’ vehicle as it turned. Parra said Davis was not cited.

Transported by Helicopter

Glenn Woodruff, 19, of Anaheim, who heard the collision, said that the motorist immediately tried to apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the officer on the roadway.

Anaheim police officers also attempted to revive the patrolman, according to authorities. But Roulston was transported by helicopter to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where he died.

Woodruff, a security officer who was working at a business plaza parking lot next to the stadium, said he heard a skidding sound, the screech of braking tires and the impact of the collision, then saw the officer flying through the air.

‘Flew . . . Like a Rag Doll’

“Someone cut him off by making a sharp left (turn) in front of him,” Woodruff said. The patrolman “hit his brakes and tried to stop but (there was) not enough time.”

“I regret to say he didn’t make it,” Woodruff said. The officer drove straight into the car, then “flew through the air like a rag doll.”

When reached at home by telephone, Davis declined to comment, other than to say that he had just returned from a hospital checkup and that he was not injured.

Parra said a California Highway Patrol accident investigation team is studying the incident, which is standard procedure.

Most police consider the job of a motorcycle officer to be hazardous duty because they are unprotected and open to the elements, Parra said.

Police said Roulston is survived by his wife, Deborah.