OFFICER DOWN..
RENO, Nev. Feb 28 2008— A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who was critically injured in a car crash earlier this week died Thursday after doctors completed harvesting her organs, authorities said.Trooper Kara Kelly-Borgognone, 33, was injured late Monday when a sport utility vehicle slammed into the driver’s side door of her patrol car while she was responding to a call.
An organ donor, she was kept on life support until doctors found suitable recipients and completed harvesting her organs.
“As a final act of selfless service, she wanted to help others live longer lives and better lives,” the NHP said in a statement announcing her death.
“Doctors at Renown Regional Medical Center performed the organ donation procedures during the night (and) finished their work around 2:45 a.m. this morning.”
Her death came a day after Kelly-Borgognone’s family announced her funeral will be held 11 a.m., March 5, at Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Kelly-Borgognone had been a trooper for two years, serving eight years before that as a parole and probation officer. She and her husband Dirk, have two young daughters, Blair, 13, and Ashlyn, 3.
Her brother, Chris Kelly, is a 14-year veteran with the NHP and is assigned to the Reno area.
“She was sharp, intelligent, bright and a real go-getter, a real tiger when it came to doing her job,” Rich Tiran, a sergeant with parole and probation, said of his former colleague.
“She always had a great, great smile on her face,” he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “She was always quick witted.”
Kelly-Borgognone was responding to assist in a bomb scare around 10 p.m. Monday when her Ford Crown Victoria patrol car was slammed at an intersection by a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle.
The driver of the other vehicle, Matthew Henderson, 33, of Sun Valley, suffered only minor injuries.
Over the last three days, fellow troopers and other law enforcement officers kept vigil outside her hospital room through her final moments. They planned to keep someone by her side through burial.
The Washoe County sheriff’s office, which is investigating the crash, said it could be next week before investigators determine the cause of the crash.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Brooke Keaste said investigators are corroborating witness statements and inspecting the vehicles.
Monday night’s bomb scare involved a plastic cooler left in the parking lot of a Terrible’s gas station in Sparks. The bomb squad was called and other law enforcement agencies, including Kelly-Borgognone, responded to set up a safety perimeter.
A small explosive charge was detonated to open the cooler, which contained cement core samples.
Two years ago, while working as a probation officer, Kelly-Borgognone shot and killed a parolee after he tested positive for methamphetamine and tried to take her gun away.
Christopher Michael Tallman, 25, was on probation following a conviction for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He also had a prior meth conviction in Oregon.Reno police said Tallman got into a fight with Kelly-Borgognone and fellow parole officer John Gresock after they went to arrest him on Feb. 8, 2006 for violating terms of his release by testing positive for drugs.
Tallman managed to get Kelly-Borgognone’s gun out of her holster but she wrestled it back and shot Tallman in the head and chest
RENO, Nev. Feb 28 2008— A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who was critically injured in a car crash earlier this week died Thursday after doctors completed harvesting her organs, authorities said.Trooper Kara Kelly-Borgognone, 33, was injured late Monday when a sport utility vehicle slammed into the driver’s side door of her patrol car while she was responding to a call.
An organ donor, she was kept on life support until doctors found suitable recipients and completed harvesting her organs.
“As a final act of selfless service, she wanted to help others live longer lives and better lives,” the NHP said in a statement announcing her death.
“Doctors at Renown Regional Medical Center performed the organ donation procedures during the night (and) finished their work around 2:45 a.m. this morning.”
Her death came a day after Kelly-Borgognone’s family announced her funeral will be held 11 a.m., March 5, at Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Kelly-Borgognone had been a trooper for two years, serving eight years before that as a parole and probation officer. She and her husband Dirk, have two young daughters, Blair, 13, and Ashlyn, 3.
Her brother, Chris Kelly, is a 14-year veteran with the NHP and is assigned to the Reno area.
“She was sharp, intelligent, bright and a real go-getter, a real tiger when it came to doing her job,” Rich Tiran, a sergeant with parole and probation, said of his former colleague.
“She always had a great, great smile on her face,” he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “She was always quick witted.”
Kelly-Borgognone was responding to assist in a bomb scare around 10 p.m. Monday when her Ford Crown Victoria patrol car was slammed at an intersection by a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle.
The driver of the other vehicle, Matthew Henderson, 33, of Sun Valley, suffered only minor injuries.
Over the last three days, fellow troopers and other law enforcement officers kept vigil outside her hospital room through her final moments. They planned to keep someone by her side through burial.
The Washoe County sheriff’s office, which is investigating the crash, said it could be next week before investigators determine the cause of the crash.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Brooke Keaste said investigators are corroborating witness statements and inspecting the vehicles.
Monday night’s bomb scare involved a plastic cooler left in the parking lot of a Terrible’s gas station in Sparks. The bomb squad was called and other law enforcement agencies, including Kelly-Borgognone, responded to set up a safety perimeter.
A small explosive charge was detonated to open the cooler, which contained cement core samples.
Two years ago, while working as a probation officer, Kelly-Borgognone shot and killed a parolee after he tested positive for methamphetamine and tried to take her gun away.
Christopher Michael Tallman, 25, was on probation following a conviction for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He also had a prior meth conviction in Oregon.Reno police said Tallman got into a fight with Kelly-Borgognone and fellow parole officer John Gresock after they went to arrest him on Feb. 8, 2006 for violating terms of his release by testing positive for drugs.
Tallman managed to get Kelly-Borgognone’s gun out of her holster but she wrestled it back and shot Tallman in the head and chest
