Sheriff’s Deputy Struck by Car in Orange County Dies

An Orange County sheriff’s deputy injured last week when a car broadsided his motorcycle at an Aliso Viejo intersection has died, officials said Sunday.

Steve Parsons, 36, died at 9:47 p.m. Saturday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center after his family decided to remove him from life-support systems, sheriff’s officials said Sunday.

Parsons had been in a medically induced coma since the June 19 accident as doctors operated to reduce swelling and bruising in his brain. He also had broken bones and internal injuries.

An emotional Sheriff Mike Carona said he spoke for Parsons’ family when he thanked the dozens of people who had offered to give blood last week to help him.

Carona credited Parsons with a decline in accidents in Laguna Hills for 1997, the first year he was stationed there. “The great irony is that it was a traffic accident that killed him,” he said.

Parsons, a 10-year department veteran and the first motorcycle officer stationed in Laguna Hills, lived in Huntington Beach. He held a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration from Cal State Long Beach.

“A lot of people wondered why a guy with a master’s degree would want to be a motorcycle officer,” Carona said. “It was because of his belief that traffic enforcement would save lives.”

Recent department photos show Parsons standing behind his motorcycle smiling, his eyes shielded by dark glasses, his hair in a crew cut.

Lt. Rex Hatch, chief of the Laguna Hills sheriff’s substation, said Parsons was first in his class at the sheriff’s academy and “a natural [on] a motorcycle.”

Deputy Don Barnes, a patrol officer who had worked with Parsons at Orange County Jail, described him as a quiet, hard-working man who loved being a motorcycle cop and believed he was saving lives every time he went out on patrol.

“He didn’t have to say it, you could see it in him,” Barnes said. “Some people do this job, and some people excel at it.” Parsons, he said, “was in the top 1%.”

Barnes said he heard of the crash Monday on his police radio.

“That’s one of the most tragic things you could ever hear,” he said. “When you hear ‘officer down,’ it’s just unreal.”

Parsons is the first motorcycle officer killed in the line of duty in the department’s history.

Investigators said a 1988 Oldsmobile sedan ran a red light at Moulton Parkway and Laguna Hills Drive and struck Parsons at about 50 mph. The crash threw Parsons more than 60 feet through the air.

Authorities said the car’s driver, Sylvia Steinhardt, 77, of Laguna Hills, apparently did not see the traffic signal and struck Parsons without slowing. Sheriff’s officials said the California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident.

No charges have been filed against Steinhardt. She was treated for minor injuries at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, where Parsons’ wife, Kathy, works as a trauma nurse.

“One of Kathy’s first concerns was that [Steinhardt] was taken care of also,” sheriff’s Capt. Tom Davis said. “It shows you what kind of family they are, how they were raised. They’re givers.”

Besides his wife, Parsons is survived by their 6-year-old daughter, Kelsey; 3-year-old son, Nathan; his parents; and a sister.