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Stacy94PGT · 12-08-2003, 08:01

FACES BEHIND THE POLICE CAR FIRES

December 8, 2003

Fiery, rear-impact crashes have killed at least 18 police officers in Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors since the 1980s. Following are a dozen victims:

Steven Agner, 30 The Madison County, Fla., sheriff's deputy, was rear-ended by a college student in a pickup while assisting a road construction crew in his new Crown Vic on July 26, 1999. The police car caught fire. A fellow officer tried to save Agner, but couldn't.

Robert Ambrose, 31 The New York trooper was killed Dec. 19, 2002, in Yonkers as he sat in his 2000 Crown Victoria on a shoulder of the New York State Thruway. A drunken driver lost control and struck the Crown Vic from behind. Fire engulfed the patrol car.

Drew Haynes Brown, 29 A patrolman with the Cobb County police in suburban Atlanta, Brown was in his 1983 Crown Victoria on Dec. 17, 1983, when a drunken driver in a pickup hit him from behind. The Crown Vic's gas tank exploded, causing a fire.

Juan Cruz, 48 An Arizona trooper, he was completing paperwork in his 1996 Crown Vic when he was hit from behind on I-10 outside Tucson on Dec. 9, 1998. Trucker Clyde Tipp, who saw the wreck, recalled "you could hear all the windows breaking" on the cold night.

Floyd (Skip) Fink, 53 An Arizona trooper, Fink had just stopped a motorist for a traffic violation and was sitting on the shoulder of U.S.-60 in Tempe when a man driving a Honda Prelude slammed into his 1999 Crown Victoria on Feb. 18, 2000.

Hung Le, 29 The Louisiana trooper was diverting traffic from a construction zone on May 19, 1998, in Tangipahoa Parish. His 1996 Crown Vic was hit from behind. Rescuers were able to pull Le out, but he later died.

Patrick Lee Metzler, 31 The Dallas police officer was driving about 5 m.p.h. with a construction crew, the red lights flashing on his 2000 Crown Vic, when his car was hit from behind. It exploded into flames, killing him on Oct. 23, 2002.

Michael Newton, 25 The Missouri trooper died on May 22 after his new Crown Victoria was hit from behind by a Ford truck. The patrol car burst into flames. Newton could have survived if not for the fire, said J. Kent Emison, a lawyer suing Ford.

Robert Nielsen, 25 The Chandler, Ariz., officer died at 1:51 p.m. on June 12, 2002, after he swerved to avoid an elderly motorist. The rear of his 1999 Crown Vic hit a pole. The car burst into flames. Witnesses tried to save him, but couldn't.

Lynn Ross, 40 The Tennessee trooper was protecting a road crew working on I-40 on July 26, 2000, with the emergency lights of his 1998 Crown Vic flashing, when he was hit from behind. The car exploded and caught fire.

Robert Smith, 34 A Florida trooper, he was in the emergency lane of I-95 in Miami Shores at 3:05 a.m. on July 26, 1997, when his 1996 Crown Vic was rammed from behind by a drunken driver. It burst into flames.

Edward Truelove, 72 An auxiliary Connecticut state trooper, he died when his 1989 Crown Vic was hit from behind on Nov. 13, 1992, in Cheshire, Conn. It exploded into flames. Truelove was a week away from his 73rd birthday.