O.C. Chief of Transit Police Dies
An off-duty Orange County Sheriff’s Department official was killed Saturday afternoon in a traffic accident near his home in Temecula, officials said Sunday.
Lt. Dan Jarvis, 54, headed the county Transportation Authority’s transit police division, said Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Abbott.
Witnesses told authorities Jarvis had been speeding more than 90 mph before the 3:40 p.m. crash on De Portola Road, said California Highway Patrol Officer Phil Konstantin.
After drifting to the right side of the road and then overcorrecting, Konstantin said, Jarvis’ car hit a wooden power pole, puncturing the fuel tank and setting the car on fire.
Jarvis, “a young 50,” was married with three grown children, said Abbott, a longtime friend. “He was very active, just an overall great guy. His death leaves a hole in this department.” In 1990, the department awarded Jarvis a Medal of Courage after he helped capture an auto-theft suspect during a gun battle.
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