Officer in Clinton motorcade killed

A police officer in Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s motorcade was killed in a motorcycle accident Friday morning on the way to a campaign rally, authorities said.

The officer was identified as Senior Cpl. Victor Lozada-Tirado, who died after apparently crashing into a concrete barrier, Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said in a televised news conference.

“Officer Lozada was very, very well respected. He had been here a long time and had touched a lot of people,” Kunkle said.

Lozada is survived by his wife and four children -- two in college, one in high school and a 10-year-old, Kunkle said.

“His wife is obviously devastated by his death. It is gut-wrenching to be there with her,” Kunkle said.

The accident occurred as Clinton’s motorcade was traveling from the Dallas airport to a parking lot in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, where Clinton addressed about 1,000 supporters.

“We are just heartsick over this,” the Democratic presidential candidate told reporters after the chilly parking-lot rally under overcast skies.

The accident upended Clinton’s campaign plans. She canceled a rally in Fort Worth.

“Because of this tragedy, I know you understand that we can’t have a rally,” Clinton told several hundred supporters who had been waving blue “Clinton for President” signs outside an ornate courthouse in downtown Fort Worth.

“It would be inappropriate for me to take this opportunity, as I had planned to be with you, to talk about the election.”

The New York senator said she had spoken with the Dallas police chief and offered condolences.

“It is for me a very personal moment, because I have been fortunate over a number of years now to be served by not only the Secret Service,” but also law enforcement officers around the nation, she told the crowd.

From Fort Worth, Clinton headed back to Dallas to visit the officer’s family at a hospital.

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michael.finnegan@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Michael Muskal contributed from Los Angeles.