Off-duty SPD officer killed on I-5 identity confirmed

SEATTLE — An off-duty Seattle police officer was struck and killed early Sunday when she stopped to assist in an accident on I-5.

And just moments after being struck, her vehicle was stolen.

The officer had stopped to assist one of two accidents that happened late last night. When she stepped out of her vehicle, she was immediately struck and killed.

Now Seattle police are mourning their own.

KIRO 7 has confirmed the officer is Alexandra Harris, a five-year veteran.

The men who held a news conference announcing the tragedy have many years of experience in law enforcement. Yet, they were obviously upset about what happened.

That accident claimed the life of an officer doing they said what was right.

“Really speaks to where we are as a society, where we have such callousness when it comes to loss of life,” said Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead.

Mead did not try to hide his emotions regarding the death of the officer who had just got off duty and yet chose to stop along I-5 while it was raining.

She was there to help troopers dealing with two multi-vehicle collisions within 90 minutes of each other. The chaos and confusion of two collision scenes were still apparent Sunday.

“What we do know is that one of the drivers involved in that original collision, in that original three-car collision, which was the second collision, series of collisions, is the one that stole the officer’s personal personal vehicle,” said Mead.

The officer spotted the second accident, and that was at 1:18 a.m. Sunday. A minute later, the call came in that she had been struck.

As would be expected, the tragedy has hit her family hard — and her colleagues too.

“Listen, anytime an officer, anytime a person is killed simply out there doing what they think is right should be problematic to anybody,” said Mead.

“It’s devastating,” said Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tom Mahaffey. “It’s very difficult for all of us. Piggy-backing to what Captain Mead said, to lose anyone in this manner would be devastating. But when it’s somebody committed to public safety, trying to do the right thing when they could have just kept going.”

Perhaps the only good news in all of this is that the officer’s car was found. However, the thief who stole it is still on the loose.

Washington State Patrol is asking anyone who knows anything about the incident to give them a call.

Washington State Patrol held a briefing after the off-duty SPD officer was struck and killed on I-5 in Seattle. Watch below.

RAW: WSP officials hold briefing after an off-duty SPD officer was struck, killed on I-5

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