A Final ‘10-10’ for a CHP Officer

The funeral for California Highway Patrol Officer John Bailey on Friday ended with a recording of him signing off from his final shift: “10-10,” the dispatch code that signals a patrol officer is heading home.

Bailey, 36, who was killed Feb. 25 by a suspected drunk driver, was remembered during a three-hour memorial as, one supervisor said, a “cowboy to the rescue.”

Speakers described Bailey as a man devoted to his wife, Teresa, and their four young children, and to his service in the U.S. Army, the California National Guard and the Highway Patrol.

“Every time I ride, I will carry him with me,” said fellow CHP motorcycle Officer Mike Hootman during his eulogy at the Rock Church and World Outreach Center in San Bernardino.

“Take it easy, buddy. I’ll see you later,” Hootman said.

A 10-year veteran of the CHP, Bailey was killed after he pulled over a suspected drunk driver on Interstate 15 near Hesperia. He made the stop while he was heading home after the end of his shift.

A second suspected drunk driver careened off the road, striking and killing Bailey. Domingo Esqueda, 20, has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges, including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Bailey was the sixth Highway Patrol officer to be killed on duty in the last five months -- a string of deaths that prompted CHP Commissioner Michael Brown this week to order that patrol officers be debriefed to see if immediate changes in department policies were needed.

The most CHP fatalities in one year came in 1964, when eight officers were killed.

“We will make this passing meaningful, hopefully, for all of us that carry a badge,” a visibly shaken Brown told hundreds of people in the cavernous church.

The funeral’s guest book read like a roster of Southern California law enforcement agencies. State officials -- including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and gubernatorial candidates Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly -- sat among the green and beige uniforms.

Highway Patrol and military officers had taken turns since 7:30 a.m. standing as bookends to Bailey’s casket, draped with an American flag.

“It seems fitting in John’s memory that we take over his watch,” said CHP Capt. Lynne Jones.

Born in Michigan, Bailey moved with his family to rural Thurmont, Md., when he and his sister were young. Aimee Bailey recalled a playful older brother who chased her with bugs and lizards and later taught her to drive a stick-shift.

“I thought the two of us would grow old,” she told mourners.

After high school, Bailey trained as a helicopter mechanic in the Army, repairing Blackhawks. He entered the CHP academy in 1995, spending five years in the Barstow station before transferring to Rancho Cucamonga to become a motorcycle officer.

In November, Bailey had returned from a 14-month tour in Iraq with the California National Guard.

Pictured in the church’s lobby wearing a black cowboy hat, Bailey “was not a make-believe cowboy,” said his close friend Mike Walker. The officer had his hat custom-made in Phoenix, his boots in Las Vegas. He listened to country western music.

Walker, peeking from beneath his own cowboy hat, recalled the tale about how being a rich man means having five friends you can count on. “Now I only have four,” he said.

The funeral service ended, and mourners filed outside for a military farewell: a 21-gun salute under a drizzling sky. Each of the officer’s children -- Hannah, Megan, Jared and Dylan -- clutched a teddy bear; their mother was presented with a pair of American flags.

Pallbearers wheeled away Bailey’s coffin, passing rows and rows of uniformed men and women, who were saluting.