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Remembering Jon Coutchie, the first Laguna Beach police officer killed in the line of duty in 60 years
Laguna Beach Police Officer Jon Coutchie, 41, died late Saturday night in a traffic accident on Pacific Coast Highway. He had been an officer with the department for four years and had previously served as a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Couresty of the Laguna Beach Police Deparment
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Courtesy Laguna Beach Police Dept.
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Laguna Beach Police Officer Jon Coutchie died in a traffic accident late Saturday night. He's survived by his parents, brother, stepsister and longtime girlfriend.
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Couresty of the Laguna Beach Police Deparment
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Laguna Beach Police Officer Jon Coutchie, 42, was hit and killed Saturday night on the South Coast Highway.
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Courtesy Laguna Beach Police Officers Association
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Colleagues are remembering a Laguna Beach Police officer who died in the line of duty over the weekend. Jon Coutchie, 41, was on his motorcycle heading north on Pacific Coast Highway Saturday when a man driving a pickup turned left in front of him. He died shortly after the wreck.
RELATED: Laguna Beach officer, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan wars, dies in crash
Laguna Beach Police Captain Jason Kravetz says it was hard not to notice Coutchie's smile. But it would have been a mistake to interpret it as a sign of weakness.
Kravetz told KPCC's Ashley Bailey:
"You know once he flashes the pearly whites he puts you a little bit at ease, but he always had that military bearing 'cause he was a U.S. Army Ranger so he was always very controlled and I never saw him too excited or seeming like he didn't have things under control."
It has been sixty years since the Laguna Beach Police Department lost an officer in the line-of-duty. The CHP says drugs or alcohol are not suspected as factors in the collision. The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.
Coutchie served in Iraq and Afghanistan before he became a police officer four years ago. Born in Tucson and raised in Orange County, Coutchie graduated from Laguna Hills High in 1989.
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