LA HABRA : Fellow Officers Observe a Painful Anniversary

One year ago today, Michael Osornio became the first La Habra officer to die on duty when a drunk driver slammed into his cruiser.

The Police Department is planning a memorial service at 9 p.m. tonight, at about the same time the 26-year-old rookie officer was hit.

“I like to think that Michael’s car may have kept some trick-or-treaters from being the victims,” last Halloween night, La Habra Police Chief Steven Staveley said.

Osornio’s colleagues are mounting Osornio’s badge behind glass at City Hall and hanging a plaque in his honor.

“The scar will always be there,” the chief said. “Every time I pin a badge on a new police officer and talk to them about what it means to be a police officer, I can’t help but think of him. . . . He represented that which is the best and finest in our society.”

Osornio had been a police officer just 14 months when he was killed. He had worked as a carpenter while putting himself through the police academy at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, said Guadalupe Osornio, his mother.

“He wanted so much to be a cop,” she said through tears. “He was so happy when he got the badge.”

His colleagues remember Osornio as a bright young man eager to be an officer.

“While his career with our department was short, he had a tremendous impact on our department,” said Sgt. Vernon Mangels, Osornio’s supervisor.

“Every time we arrest a drunk driver we remember Mike. He really enjoyed arresting drunk drivers and getting them off the streets. As fate would have it, he was killed by one.”

The night Osornio was slain, Officer Kari Armstrong was the first to arrive at the scene.

They both were patrolling the streets, and “I was just one light behind him,” she said. Then a police dispatcher alerted officers of a major collision, she said.

Osornio was called to the scene but didn’t respond. When Armstrong arrived, she found Osornio pinned inside his cruiser after a drunk driver broadsided him.

In April, Marco Villegas Ramirez, a La Mirada metal worker, was sentenced to six years after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the fatal crash.