Citizen Staff Writer
DAVID L. TEIBEL
dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com
An off-duty Tucson police officer bicycling on the Southeast Side was struck from behind and killed by a pickup truck Tuesday afternoon.
Officer Allen Dixon Johnson, 26, was hit about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday on East Old Spanish Trail just west of South Camino Loma Alta, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a Pima County sheriff’s spokeswoman.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death because it happened in the unincorporated county.
Johnson was bicycling east on Old Spanish Trail when he was struck, Barkman said.
Barkman would not identify the woman driving the pickup, but the deputy said no citations were issued pending completion of the investigation.
Johnson was a patrol officer in the downtown division, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a police spokesman.
Before that, he had been assigned to patrol in the South Side division, Robinson said.
Johnson had been a Tucson police officer since September 2005.
Johnson, who originally was from Ohio, was not married, Robinson said.
Johnson received an emergency medical technician certification from Sinclair Community College in Ohio and in 2004 earned a bachelor of arts degree in criminology from Ohio State University, Robinson said.
“Allen Johnson’s co-workers at the Tucson Police Department, as well as the community he served, will sorely miss his companionship, hard work and dedication to duty,” Robinson said in a news statement.
The Tucson Police Foundation said in a news release that it will accept donations for a memorial fund for Johnson. Checks can be made out to the Tucson Police Foundation and dropped off at any Tucson Police Department substation or at the Tucson Old Pueblo Credit Union. All the money collected will be given to Johnson’s family, it said.
Off-duty Tucson police officer killed as bicycle rear-ended