AUSTIN — A Central Texas police officer died early Sunday after she was struck by a patrol car driven by her partner while in a foot chase with a suspect.
Officer Amy Donovan died at Brackenridge Hospital (search) about 2 a.m. after the accident late Saturday night. She was the first female Austin Police Department (search) officer to die in the line of duty, officials said.
The 37-year-old officer was hit by her partner, Officer Adrian Valdovino, after he tried to cut a suspect off with the patrol car, said Police Chief Stan Knee.
Donovan and her partner were patrolling in East Austin when they saw an unidentified subject who Knee said was engaged in "suspicious activity," Knee told the Austin American-Statesman in Sunday's online edition. Donovan jumped from the patrol car to question the man and he fled on foot.
Valdovino placed the patrol car in reverse to try to stop the fleeing man and he struck Donovan, who was in the street, the police chief said.
