IRWINDALE — Deputies stood in stoic guard for 24 hours Thursday at the spot where Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy David March was fatally shot during a traffic stop eight years ago.
To keep his memory alive, deputies from the sheriff’s Temple Station, where March, 33, last served, and throughout the county took turns keeping an honor guard for the fallen deputy on Live Oak Avenue, just east of Peck Road.
March was gunned down by Jorge Arroyo Garcia, also known as Armando Garcia, on April 29, 2002, during a routine traffic stop. Garcia is serving a life sentence in prison after admitting to the slaying five years later.
Colleagues of March, a Saugus resident, described him as a dedicated deputy and a soft-spoken, kind man.
Lt. Linda Becker, who worked with March at the sheriff’s Temple Station, took a turn standing guard over the site of the killing.
“I just remember him as being such a great, motivated, enthusiastic deputy,” she said. “He was just an honorable man. He was respected by all his peers.”
She added he was also a good husband to his wife, Teri, and a good step-father to his now-20-year-old step-daughter.
“He’s sure missed by everyone,” Becker said. “Even today.”
Deputies volunteered to stand guard in teams of two or three in half-hour shifts in front of flags, flowers and a permanent memorial to March built by the City of Irwindale. Most of the deputies were off-duty.
Deputy Herb Howland said March was “liked by everybody.”
“He was very soft-spoken,” the deputy added. “His mannerisms were very quiet. He was just one of those genuinely nice people.”
At the time of the shooting, Garcia was an illegal immigrant who had already been deported four times and was also wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in Baldwin Park, authorities said. The attempted murder charges were dropped when he pleaded guilty to murdering the 7-year law enforcement veteran.
He is believed to have fled to Mexico within 24 hours of murdering March, where Mexican authorities arrested him in February, 2006.
He was extradited to the United States to face trial in early 2007, and he pleaded guilty two months later.
Pomona Superior Court Judge Charles Horan sentenced Garcia to spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
Fellow law enforcement officers used March’s handcuffs to bring the killer back from Mexico.