A motorcyclist who was killed following a crash with a Tucson police car late Monday night was identified as Christopher Hoffman.
Hoffman was age 24, said Sgt. Kimberly Bay, a Tucson Police Department spokeswoman, on Wednesday.
The wreck occurred in midtown near North Swan and East Fifth Street.
Officer Adam Smith, who has worked for the department for more than eight years, was not injured in the crash, Bay said.
Bay said shortly before 11 p.m. Monday officers and the department's helicopter responded to a report of a fight in the parking lot at 4676 E. Grant Road.
Before officers arrived, they were told the fight involved two men and one of the men had a baton.
As officers were nearing the scene, they received information that one person left in a truck and another person was preparing to leave on a motorcycle. Officers and the helicopter crew arrived on scene and saw the motorcyclist, later identified as Hoffman, leave traveling south on Swan at a high rate of speed, said Bay.
The helicopter crew reported the actions of Hoffman from a distance. The helicopter did not have its spotlight turned on. They observed Hoffman continue to travel at a high rate of speed on Swan through East Pima Street and through East Speedway.
The helicopter crew advised patrol officers that Hoffman was moving in between vehicles and at one point nearly crashed with a vehicle that was pulling onto Swan from East Third Street, Bay said.
Within minutes of the original call, Officer Smith was driving a marked squad car north on Swan and passed East Broadway. Smith pulled into the left turn lane area at East Holmes Street, which is south of East Fifth Street and waited for additional information about the whereabouts of the motorcyclist, said Bay.
After waiting for some time, Smith began to make a turn when he was struck by Hoffman on the front passenger side of the squad car, near the wheel.
Hoffman was not wearing a helmet and was thrown and landed in the road. Additional officers arrived at the scene and performed first aid on Hoffman while requesting paramedics, Bay said.
Tucson Fire Department paramedics arrived a short time later and took over treatment, and transported Hoffman to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson. He later was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Traffic detectives took over the criminal investigation, and the Office of Professional Standards is conducting a separate administrative investigation looking at the actions of department personnel.
The administrative investigation is standard procedure in all traffic fatalities involving an officer.
Meanwhile, detectives are trying to locate the driver of the truck that left the parking lot on Grant Road ahead of Hoffman. The truck was described as a light-colored Toyota 4x4 and was last seen headed south on Swan.
Detectives are asking that anyone with information call 911 or 88-CRIME, the anonymous tipster hotline.
Since January, there have been 31 fatalities in the city, compared to 27 as of this date last year, according to police records.
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