Officer Who Committed Suicide Is Buried

Los Angeles Police Officer Nadine Arango, who died last week after intentionally ramming her car into a freeway support column as police and witnesses looked on, was buried Wednesday after a funeral attended by about 150 uniformed officers, authorities said.

Funeral services for the 25-year-old Arango were held at San Fernando Mission chapel. She was buried at nearby San Fernando Mission Cemetery, said LAPD Capt. Ron Bergman.

Arango, who was born in Medellin, Colombia, was a four-year veteran of the LAPD assigned to the Foothill Division’s domestic violence unit. On May 26, shortly before ending her shift, she called her estranged husband, California Highway Patrol Officer William Badgerow, and expressed suicidal thoughts, authorities said.

Badgerow alerted officers in the Foothill Division, who located Arango driving in her black Chevrolet Suburban near her Sun Valley home. They followed her until she stopped on Hollywood Way, less than a mile from her house.

Police attempted to talk to Arango and coax her out of her car, but she accelerated and slammed head-on into a concrete support beneath the Golden State Freeway.

On Tuesday, coroner’s investigators ruled Arango’s death a suicide, and said she had died from head injuries.

About 300 people attended the funeral service, which included a police honor guard, Bergman said. LAPD Deputy Chief Michael J. Bostic presented a flag to Badgerow.

A family friend closed the services by singing a lullaby that Arango especially cherished. “It was very moving,” Bergman said. In addition to her estranged husband, Arango is survived by her brother, Andre, and an aunt.