By Brian Day
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
POMONA, Calif. — Officials and family members have honored the memory of a longtime Azusa police officer killed by a drunken driver in 2009 by placing a permanent sign near the scene of the crash cautioning motorists against intoxicated driving.
Randall “Randy” Phillips, 55, of Ontario, died Sept. 12, 2009, after being struck head-on by a wrong-way, drunken driver on the westbound 60 Freeway transition road to the northbound 71 Freeway in Pomona. He was on his way to teach a police explorer academy in Arcadia.
Phillips’ wife, Cindy Phillips, has worked with Caltrans to obtain and place a large sign at the scene of the crash that reads “Please don’t drink and drive. In memory of Randy Phillips.”
“This was just the final closure for me,” Cindy said. “It’s in his memory. If it helps somebody else in the future, even one person, to think about not drinking and driving, I’d be happy.”
Randy Phillips spent 29 years as an Azusa police officer before retiring in 2004 at the rank of corporal. After retirement, he continued devoting much of his time to area young people through the San Gabriel Valley Law Enforcement Explorer Academy, where he taught for 25 years. He was on his way to the first day of academy with a new class at Arcadia High School when he was killed.
Retired Azusa police officer Mark Walters worked alongside Phillips for 20 years.
“He was loved by hundreds of people, and this is a fitting memorial for him,” Walters said of the sign.
Former Azusa police chief Bob Garcia, who retired last year, also worked with Randy Phillips for more than 20 years.
“He was very community-minded,” Garcia said. “Randy was a people person, which extended into his retirement.”
“I recall him making many, many drunk driver arrests,” Garcia added. “This sign is to... remind everybody that it’s just such a preventable disaster.”
Ronald Becerra Jr., 40, of Chino Hills was sentenced last year to 15 years to life in prison after pleading “no contest” to charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony hit-and-run.
He fled the scene initially, but was apprehended the following day, investigators said.
His father, Ronald Becerra Sr., 64, of Chino, pleaded “no contest” to aiding and abetting his son following the fatal crash, and was sentenced to time already served in jail as he awaited trial, plus three years of probation.
Cindy Phillips said she was satisfied that justice had been served in the case. She said the prosecutor in case, Assistant Head Deputy John Monaghan Jr. of the Pomona Branch of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, “was very aggressive.”
The prosecutor sought the family’s input before agreeing to a plea deal that spared Becerra Jr. a murder charge, but also spared the Phillips family the stress and uncertainty of a jury trial, Cindy said.
“I felt like he went above and beyond,” she said.
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