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Officer Down: Officer Joseph Sanders
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San Gabriel Valley Tribune
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Chili’s restaurant at Puente Hills Mall was packed two days before Christmas. Police officers and firefighters filled the eatery to show support for a California Highway Patrol officer killed two weeks ago in Hacienda Heights.
Puente Hills Chili’s joined restaurants in Whittier and Chino Hills to raise money for the family of CHP Officer Joseph Sanders, 29, who was buried Monday in Lodi. Each restaurant donated 10 percent of their sales receipts.
“We had sales of $18,200 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.,” reported Manager Edward Esparza. “Our restaurant will filled with officers and firemen all day. Any time we can help our community we’re happy to help.”
“Chili’s said they read about Officer Sanders in the newspaper and asked if they could do something for his family,” explained CHP Officer Joe Zizi.
Soon the three local Chili’s had signed up for the fund-raising event on Dec. 23.
“We were filled to capacity by 11 a.m. and it continued all day long. The parking lot was full of police cars, firetrucks and ambulances,” said server Giovanni Sanchez.
Fellow law enforcement from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs and area police departments came out to help Sander’s family.
“One officer even drove out from the airport police at LAX,” Sanchez said. “We had a lot more work but it made us feel very good.”
The popular restaurant was filled with a sea of uniforms. Los Angeles County firefighters and paramedics could be seen in the mix.
There were even a couple K9 units in the parking lot, though no one asked for a doggie bag.
Sanders had worked out of the Santa Fe Springs CHP office. He had lived in Corona with his three children and pregnant wife.
“The young officer served in the Santa Fe Springs office for almost a year,” Zizi noted.
Before that Sanders had been in the Marines, serving in Iraq.
“He served his country honorably in Iraq,” Zizi said. “He always wanted to be with the CHP and he died protecting the citizens of California.”
On Dec. 15, Sanders and his partner were helping the driver of a pickup truck that crashed on the eastbound Pomona (60) Freeway at Azusa Avenue in Hacienda Heights.
As Sanders was laying down flares, there was another crash on the rain-slick freeway. One of the vehicles involved hit the officer, who was pronounced dead at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center.
“His death ripped the hearts out of the graveyard shift, but we’re all receiving counseling to help deal with our grief,” Zizi said.
Sanders was the first CHP officer killed this year. But Zizi noted that three others from the local station had died in the line of duty in the past four years.
A fund has been established for the officer’s family.
Send donations to the Joe Sanders Donation Fund at CAHP Credit Union, P.O. Box 826, San Dimas, CA 91773.
Copyright 2009 San Gabriel Valley Tribune