Funeral Tuesday for SDPD detectives killed in wrong-way freeway crash

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Grieving family members and law enforcement colleagues will gather Tuesday to bid their final farewells to a married couple who rose through the ranks of the San Diego Police Department to the post of detective together before losing their lives to a head-on freeway crash near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The late-morning memorial at a 4S Ranch church will honor the lives of Escondido residents Ryan Park, 32, and Jamie Huntley-Park, 33, who were killed when a car heading north on the southbound side of Interstate 5 in San Ysidro crashed into the vehicle they were in shortly before 10:30 a.m. on June 4.

The fiery collision also killed the errant driver, 58-year-old Sandra Daniels of Ramona. It was unclear how and why Daniels wound up on the wrong side of the freeway near Dairy Mart Road, traveling against traffic at speeds as fast as 90 mph, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Park and Huntley-Park had been married since 2016, having met while attending police academy four years earlier, SDPD Chief David Nisleit told reporters. They earned the rank of detective together in July 2018.

The couple were not on duty on the day of the deadly accident, but were following up on cases they were working on, the chief said. The vehicle they were in — apparently being driven by Ryan Park — was city-owned but not a marked police car.

The services at will be held at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego at 10 a.m. followed by a procession from the chapel to their burial site.

KUSI will carry the services live on-air and online beginning at 10:00 a.m.