Orange County sheriff's motorcyle officer eulogized

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) An Orange County sheriff's motorcycle officer who died in an on-duty accident was eulogized as a loving father, husband and friend.

About 3,000 people, many of them law enforcement, attended a two-hour funeral service Thursday for Sgt. Matthew Davis, a 16-year veteran, at Saddleback Church.

Davis, 38, sustained major head injuries when his motorcycle collided with a Saturn driven by a 17-year-old girl in Mission Viejo. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

The girl's car appeared to have stopped at the intersection's traffic sign, he said.

The collision sent Davis about 20 feet through the air and his motorcycle slid 100 feet, officials said. Davis was wearing a helmet at the time.

Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona told those who gathered for the patrolman's funeral, that one hour after Davis died, his wife, Tammy, asked to meet the 17-year-old girl who had struck her husband's motorcycle. The two prayed together.

``I don't know what they said,'' Carona said. ``But that was how they were.''

Don Miskulin, a childhood friend and Riverside police officer, said Davis' final gift to society was the donation of his heart, liver and kidneys.

``I don't know why God took Matt could be because somebody needed his organs, could be because God needs a great motor cop in heaven,'' he said.

Davis is survived by a wife and three children.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)