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Officer Killed In Crash Along Ariz. Highway

An Arizona DPS officer was killed Monday, when an empty tanker truck failed to yield and struck the officer's patrol vehicle. Officer Tim Huffman, a 14-year veteran, was sitting in his patrol car along Interstate 8 near Yuma as a second officer attempted to shut down the highway.

May 7, 2013
Officer Killed In Crash Along Ariz. Highway

Photo courtesy of Arizona DPS.

1 min to read


An Arizona Department of Public Safety officer was killed Monday, when an empty tanker truck failed to yield, causing a chain-reaction collision crash claiming the life of the officer as he sat in his cruiser.

Officer Tim Huffman, 47, was sitting in his patrol car along Interstate 8 near Yuma at 5:10 p.m. as a second officer attempted to shut down the highway. Orange cones were in place, the lights of three DPS cars were on, and one DPS officer stood in the lane waving at the oncoming truck, according to the agency.

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The truck's driver, identified as 33-year-old Jorge Espinoza, made no attempt to brake and slammed into a parked patrol car that struck Officer Huffman's vehicle and killed him instantly.

Huffman, a 14-year veteran, is survived by three siblings who live out of state.

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