By
The Associated Press
A police officer in Colorado has died after being critically injured when he fell from a 40-foot-high bridge while chasing suspects in a car theft, the City of Fountain Police Department said.
Agent Julián Becerra, 35, died this Saturday
at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, after being hospitalized for just over a week after the accident, authorities said.
He was married and had two children.
A funeral procession took place late Saturday to take his body from the hospital to the El Paso County Coroner's Office, also in Colorado Springs, police reported.
“We appreciate the support that the public has given Officer Becerra, his family and the Fountain Police Department over the past week,” police spokeswoman Lisa Schneider said in a statement.
Officer Julián Becerra.City of Fountain
On February 2, at about 4 pm, the Correctional Institutions Department asked the police for help in finding the suspects in a robbery.
After several hours of manhunt in the area and at least one other carjacking attempt, officers immobilized the fleeing vehicle near a bridge south of Colorado Springs at about 8 p.m., the police commander said. Fountain police, Mark Cristiani.
The driver got out of the vehicle and Becerra followed him.
The officer fell off the bridge, landing in a river bed and was seriously injured, according to Cristiani.
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The driver and two other passengers of the stolen vehicle were arrested by court order on suspicion of serious crimes committed during the chase, according to authorities.
The driver tried to jump off the bridge, but officers caught him, pulled him to safety and detained him, police said.
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On Friday, authorities reported that Becerra had been put on a ventilator and was surrounded by family and friends, according to The Gazette in Colorado Springs.
Family, friends and police officers placed candles, flowers and notes in Becerra's police vehicle, which remains parked outside the Fountain Police Department, ABC affiliate KRDO in Colorado Springs reported.
Becerra worked for the police for more than four years, before serving in the United States Air Force.
