By Melissa Pinion-Whitt
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — A 13-year veteran with the California Highway Patrol died early Monday when his truck swerved off the 210 Freeway, overturned and tossed him out onto the road.
Dale Goddard III, 36, of Chino Hills was off duty and driving from the westbound 210 to the southbound 15 Freeway at 1:40 a.m. when he lost control of his 2001 Chevy Silverado, CHP officers said.
“The vehicle drifted to left, rolled down the embankment, coming to rest on the southbound 15,” said Officer Jeffrey Briggs.
The truck landed on its roof. The cause of the crash was under investigation, but Briggs said it didn’t appear that alcohol played a role.
It was a shock to his co-workers at the Baldwin Park Station, in part, because officers said Goddard was not wearing a seatbelt, something he enforced while on patrol.
“It just shows that we’re all human beings and we all make mistakes,” said Officer Edmund Zorrilla, spokesman for the Baldwin Park CHP.
The CHP shut down part of the 15 Freeway for about eight hours while officers investigated the crash. The transition road from the 210 to the 15 was also closed.
Officers reopened the freeway at 10:04 a.m.
Goddard had been on a temporary assignment the past year and a half in Los Angeles, handling background checks for CHP applicants. But he was officially assigned to the Baldwin Park office, where he worked as a motorcycle officer, Zorrilla said.
Zorrilla called him a family man who enjoyed trips to the Colorado River with his wife and two children. He also enjoyed riding motorcycles in his free time.
“He loved riding Harleys with his friends and he was a family man, always helping others,” Zorrilla said.
Copyright 2008 San Gabriel Valley Tribune