Duty Death: Andy Traylor - [Austin]
End of Service: 31/07/2021
By Kelsey Bradshaw
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin police officer who was hospitalized Wednesday after a crash that occurred while he was responding to a call in East Austin has died, Austin’s police union has confirmed.
The officer, identified by the Austin Police Association in a letter to union members as Andy Traylor, was with the Austin Police Department for nine years.
Traylor is the first Austin officer to be killed in the line of duty since September 2016, when senior police officer Amir Abdul-Khaliq died after being struck by a driver trying to cut through a funeral procession.
Abdul-Khaliq was escorting the procession on his patrol motorcycle in North Austin. He was a 17-year veteran of the Austin Police Department and a father of five.
The last three Austin police officers to die in the line of duty were in deadly traffic incidents.
Before Traylor and Abdul-Khaliq, 42-year-old police Lt. Clay Crabb was killed in 2013 while on his way to check a low water crossing in heavy rain. Investigators said Crabb lost control of his police cruiser, hydroplaned and veered into oncoming traffic before colliding with a pickup truck on U.S. 290 near Sawyer Ranch Road near Dripping Springs.
Traylor was responding on July 28 to a “priority 1" call in the 7800 block of FM 969 near Decker Lane at around 2:10 a.m.
Police did not say what kind of call Traylor was responding to, but that priority 1 calls need to be immediately attended to. Such calls can include shootings or other critical incidents.
Traylor was traveling west on FM 969 in his patrol vehicle when an 18-wheeler did a U-turn in front of him, causing the vehicles to collide.
Traylor and his vehicle were pinned under the 18-wheeler. He was taken to a local hospital.
The driver of the 18-wheeler was not injured and stayed at the scene of the crash.
https://twitter.com/Chief_Manley/status/1421634167687761925
©2021 www.statesman.com.