Officer Edward Everett Reed, Jr.

Edward Everett Reed, Jr.

Officer Edward Reed was killed when a drunk driver ran a red light and struck his patrol car at the intersection of 42nd Street and Central Avenue.

The impact pushed the patrol car into a utility pole. Officer Reed was the passenger and was killed instantly. The drunk driver fled the scene on foot but was apprehended by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. He pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Officer Reed and his partner were returning to the transit police headquarters from the Rail Central Control Facility at the time of the incident.

Officer Reed was assigned to the Bus Operations Bureau. He had originally been a member of the Southern California Rapid Transit District Police Department, which at the time of his death, was undergoing a merger with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to form the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In 1997 that agency was merged into the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officer Reed, who had also served as a U.S. Army military policeman, was survived by his parents, fiancee, and two sisters.