Officers pay tribute to slain Oceanside officer

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - A California Highway Patrolman who was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver was recalled Thursday as a devoted father and officer during a funeral mass that drew about 1,000 mourners to a historic Spanish mission.

Officer Sean Nava was a ''hero and a leader,'' Gov. Gray Davis said to an audience of relatives, friends and law enforcement officers from around the country.

''When people ask you where all the heroes have gone, you tell them about Sean,'' Davis said.

The officers who filed grimly into the 18th century Mission San Luis Rey wore black ribbons across their badges. Some openly wept.

Nava, 33, was struck and killed Saturday on Interstate 5 near Carlsbad as he walked in the center median while investigating a routine traffic accident.

Christopher Merrick, a 20-year-old college student from Breckenridge, Colo., pleaded innocent to second-degree murder in connection with the officer's death.

Merrick was returning with a friend from a night of drinking in Tijuana, Mexico when he swerved into the median at more than 75 miles per hour to pass another motorist, authorities said.

He is being held on $2 million bail and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Merrick, speaking through his lawyer, apologized to Nava's family during his arraignment Wednesday.

''He's in a great deal of pain,'' attorney Brad Patton said. ''He feels terrible for what's gone on.''

Colleagues of Nava, who joined the CHP 10 years ago, noted the bitter irony that he was killed by a suspected drunk driver since the officer took pride in trying to make the freeways safer.

''He was very good at investigations and he was very good at spotting intoxicated drivers,'' said fellow CHP Officer Mike Kelley.

The officer also recalled Nava picking up a homeless man on the side of the freeway, driving him to a safe location and giving him money for food.

''There's all these great things he did that people didn't know about,'' he said. ''He was just the greatest guy.''

Nava grew up in Oceanside, about 45 miles north of San Diego. He joined the highway patrol after serving as a military police officer in the Army, which he left in 1989 at the rank of sergeant.

He is survived two children, ages 7 and 4; and his wife of 10 years, Melanie, a former CHP officer he met at the academy.