Citizen Staff Writer
DAVID L. TEIBEL
dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com
A Tucson police officer killed Tuesday in a Southeast Side traffic collision was to be buried in Ohio on Monday.
His body was escorted to Wooster, Ohio, by two Tucson police officers.
The Tucson Police Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports the Police Department, and the Tucson Police Officers Association, the police officers’ union, raised $2,000 to pay the escorting officers’ transportation, food and lodging cost, foundation executive director Mike Feder said in an e-mailed news statement. The names of the escorting officers were not available.
Alex Roberts, a funeral director with Roberts Funeral Home in Wooster, said Johnson was to be buried at the Smithville Cemetery, in Smithville, Ohio, about 15 miles southwest of Akron. A funeral home Web site, at www.roberts funeral home.com, identifies Johnson’s grandparents as Wooser residents Bill and Esther Johnson.
The family requested a private service, Roberts said.
Johnson also is survived by his parents, Christopher F. Johnson and Karla Johnson of Troy, Ohio, and by two brothers, Gregory Johnson of Troy and Bradley Johnson of Berkeley, Calif.
Johnson, 26, was off-duty, bicycling east on East Old Spanish Trail near South Camino Loma Alta, when he was fatally struck from behind by a pickup about 2:20 p.m., said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death because it happened in the unincorporated county.
Barkman would not identify the woman driving the pickup, but said Sunday that no citations have been issued pending completion of the investigation.
Johnson was assigned to uniformed patrol in the department’s downtown division, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a police spokesman.
Johnson had been a Tucson police officer since September 2005.
Johnson was born Wichita, Kan. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in criminology from Ohio State University and received an emergency medical technician certification from Sinclair Community College in 2004. After his graduation, Johnson served as an EMT in Phoenix for a year, according to the Roberts Web site.
The Web site says Johnson “served with honor as a police officer, receiving several commendations for his work. Allen loved the outdoors. He enjoyed running, backpacking and bicycling. He had completed several Century bike rides, riding 100 miles.”
The Tucson Police Foundation is accepting donations to a memorial fund for Johnson. Checks may be made out to the Tucson Police Foundation, with a notation they are for the Johnson Memorial. Donations may be dropped off at any Tucson Police Department substation or the Tucson Old Pueblo Credit Unions at 2500 E. 22nd Street, 177 N. Church Avenue and 9725 E. Broadway. They also may be mailed to the Tucson Police Foundation, 3900 E. Timrod St., Tucson, AZ 85711. The money collected will be given to Johnson’s family or to help cover the cost of the officer escort to Ohio.