Full Notification

An off-duty San Diego police officer was killed early Saturday morning on Interstate 15 in Mira Mesa after he was struck by a vehicle as he was assisting a motorist involved in a separate collision, according to police. Another person was also killed at the scene, where a series of accidents occurred in the southbound lanes.

Jason Prokop, 34, was a five-year veteran of the police department who was assigned to the Central Division since July 2007, according to Lt. Andra Brown.

Prokop was traveling south on I-15 around 3:15 a.m. Saturday when he was involved in a collision with a vehicle that had stopped on the highway. According to Brown, Prokop exited his vehicle to render aid to the driver of the stopped vehicle when he was struck by another southbound motorist. He was declared dead at the scene.

According to the California Highway Patrol, six vehicles were towed from the scene, where one traffic collision caused three other collisions in the pre-dawn darkness.

The past 12 months have been hard on the San Diego Police Department. Prokop is the sixth officer to die since October 2010.

On Aug. 24, Christopher Blakeley, 26, was killed in Palm City when his motorcycle collided with a pick-up truck.

On Aug. 7, Officer Jeremy Henwood, 36, died after being shot in the head the previous day while he was in his patrol car in City Heights.

On Aug. 1, Officer David Christopher Hall, 41, killed himself at his Clairemont Mesa home. He had been facing multiple charges related to an alleged DUI crash in February.

On July 18, Detective Donna Williams, 52, and her 18-year-old daughter Briana were killed at their Rancho Peñasquitos home, allegedly by the detective’s 24-year-old son.

On Oct. 27, Officer Christopher Wilson, 50, was shot in a Skyline apartment as officers conducted a compliance check on a probationer. Wilson died the next day.