SARAH HALL/Nevada Appeal News Service The funeral procession for California Highway Patrol Officer Douglas Scott Russell travels through Douglas County on its way to Coleville Tuesday. Russell, 46, a former Coleville resident, was killed in the line of duty on July 31. The procession crossed through the Carson Valley fromCalifornia and then traveled south down Highway 395, where Russell's body was taken home to Coleville for a private family service. Four members of the Douglas County Sheriff's Honor Guard joined the procession through the valley. Russell, a 22-year CHP veteran, was hit while he was setting up a spike strip to stop a driver involved in a high-speed chase on Highway 50 about 45 miles east of Sacramento. The driver, identified as David Zanon of Sacramento, swerved and struck Russell on the highway.
GARDNERVILLE - The funeral procession for California Highway Patrol Officer and former Coleville resident Douglas Scott Russell, 46, who was killed in the line of duty on July 31, passed through Carson Valley on its way to Coleville on Tuesday.
The procession crossed the California-Nevada border and headed north up Highway 88 and then across the valley to Highway 395 and Riverview.
The procession then traveled south down Highway 395 to Coleville for a private family service.
Four members of the Douglas County Sheriff's Honor Guard joined the procession through the valley.
According to the Associated Press, Russell was hit on Highway 50 about 45 miles east of Sacramento and airlifted to the UC Davis Medical Center. The 22-year CHP veteran was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"Our officer was attempting to deploy the strip, and the suspect aimed his car at the officer and murdered him," CHP assistant commissioner Kevin Green said.
The chase began in the parking lot of an auto parts store in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova. Police were called to the shop to check on a man sleeping in his car, said Tim Curran, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
"When we arrived and tapped on the window, he awoke, he saw the officers and immediately sped off," Curran said.
The suspect, identified as David Zanon of Sacramento, tried to hit a Rancho Cordova officer head-on during the pursuit, as well as another CHP officer deploying a spike strip, Curran said. Russell was the third officer Zanon tried to strike.
Zanon was apprehended and taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center. Green said he had minor injuries and would be arrested after his release from the hospital.
Zanon is a registered drug offender with a misdemeanor warrant for resisting arrest, the sheriff's department said.
Russell, who is survived by his wife, is the second highway patrol officer to be killed on the job this year, department spokeswoman Fran Clader said. Since the agency began keeping records in 1929, 212 state troopers have died in the line of duty.