Deputy David March: Santa Clarita Man Remembered 22 Years After Line-Of-Duty Death

Monday marked the 22nd anniversary of the on-duty shooting of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy David March of Santa Clarita, who was tragically gunned down in 2002.

On April 29, 2002, Temple Station Deputy David William March , 33, was shot and killed by a stolen vehicle suspect during a traffic stop. A seven-year veteran of the department and a graduate of Canyon High School, March was survived by his wife, Teri, and his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Kayla.

At 10:03 a.m., March had stopped a car on Live Oak Avenue in Irwindale for a traffic violation. The driver, Jorge Arroyo Garcia, approached Deputy March, withdrawing a handgun. Friends of Garcia would later tell investigators that the man had communicated his intent to kill a police officer before the shooting.

Garcia shot March several times before the deputy could even get to his weapon. Garcia then jumped back into the stolen car and fled the scene.

An engineer at a nearby concrete plant heard the gunshots and discovered Deputy March lying in the street. A truck driver at the same plant commandeered March’s police car radio and put out a distress call, crying, “A deputy’s been shot!”

Emergency responders quickly raced to the scene, attempting to resuscitate March, but to no avail.

The stolen vehicle was found two days later, but there was no sign of Garcia, who fled to Mexico. An undocumented worker, Garcia had been deported four times and was also wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in Baldwin Park before he killed March.

After years on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 10 most-wanted fugitive list, Garcia was arrested and returned to the U.S. in February 2006. In March 2007, Garcia pled guilty to second-degree murder and was given life without parole.

The week before his death, Dave wrote the following in an email in response to a request for input on his annual evaluation:

“My goals are simple, I will always be painfully honest, work as hard as I can, learn as much as I can and hopefully make a difference in people’s lives.”

This statement has gone on to become the creed of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

In 200, the City of Santa Clarita renamed David March Park in Saugus in the deputy’s honor. The March Family bell, last rung in David’s honor at his funeral, is embedded in a memorial near the playground.

Every year on the anniversary of Deputy March’s death, deputies from Temple Sheriff’s Station stand vigil for 24 hours at the March memorial in Irwindale, where he was slain.

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