By Ivan Moreno
The Rocky Mountain News
Officer Down: Officer Doug Byrne
AURORA, Colo. - An Aurora police officer who died after his car flipped in March could have survived if he had been wearing a seat belt as he sped to a park where a man was having a seizure, according to a report released Friday.
The report on Officer Doug Byrne’s death also said that if he knew that paramedics were already on scene, he would “have chosen to respond at a slower speed and in a more controlled manner.”
Byrne, 37, was driving east on East Sixth Avenue at 7:36 p.m. March 25 to help a man having who was having a life-threatening seizure at Hoops Park, 16300 E. Sixth Ave.
Before he arrived at the scene, Byrne swerved to miss another car and was launched across a median. He died from his injuries.
“If Officer Byrne had the seat belt engaged at the time of the accident, the outcome may have been different,” said the report prepared by Aurora police.
Copyright 2007 Rocky Mountain News