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The California Highway Patrol announced today that Officer Juan Gonzalez, 33, and Officer Brian Law, 34, died this morning when their cruiser came upon a crash on state route 99 near Kingsburg, south of Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley. Gonzalez, the driver of the cruiser, took evasive action, but the CHP car hit a guardrail and overturned.
The CHP says on Facebook that the officers were partners who had been classmates together at the CHP academy in 2008.
From the Fresno Bee:
[CHP Capt. Dave] Paris said Law is married, has three children and lives in the Clovis area. Gonzalez, who lives in the Fresno area, was talking about marriage with his girlfriend.
Services for the men are pending."Everybody that comes on the CHP understands the risks," said Paris. "Their biggest goal is to help their community, to strengthen their community. They understand that they can become a victim of an assault or a traffic collision. It's always in their mind and they prepare for it."
Paris expressed some disappointment that the names of the officers were made known on social media before some family members could be informed by CHP officials personally.
