The San Diego Police Department on Wednesday saluted the legacies of the officers who died while serving with the agency over its 136-year history.
The ceremony included a special tribute for one who lost his life last summer.
The annual midday remembrance at the department’s memorial monument outside downtown SDPD headquarters is slated to include an unveiling of an addition to the stark granite plaque – the name of Austin Machitar. The officer, 30, was killed in Aug. 26 in a traffic crash while assisting with the high-speed pursuit of a teen-ager in Clairemont Mesa.
The midday event also featured a wreath-laying ceremony and 37 peals of a bell, once for each of the 35 men and two women who died while on the job with the city’s police force between 1913 and 2024.
Machitar is also set to have a Clairemont park re-named in his honor.
Updated 3:40 p.m. May 28, 2025
