Funeral services scheduled Friday for Hayward police officer killed in motorcycle accident
- May 18, 2012
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HAYWARD -- A memorial service for a Hayward police officer who died last week in a motorcycle accident has been scheduled for Friday, authorities said.
Rodney Pierce, 46, of San Ramon, was riding a motorcycle on southbound Crow Canyon Road in Castro Valley at 5:40 a.m. May 7 when he hit a deer that had bound over a guard rail, said California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Jacowitz.
Pierce, who was wearing his helmet and traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour, was ejected from the motorcycle. Paramedics were called to the scene and transported him to Eden Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Jacowitz said.
He is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children, Hayward police Lt. Roger Keener said.
Pierce was a fixture in the Hayward community, Keener said.
He was an alumnus of Hayward High School and Chabot College and had been taking classes at Cal State East Bay in Hayward, Keener said.
Pierce was a standout baseball player who was enshrined as a member of Chabot College's Baseball Hall of Fame, police said. He also was dedicated to helping Hayward's youth, serving as an instructor in the Junior Giants youth baseball program.
Pierce worked at the Hayward Police Department for nearly 10 years, serving as a school resource officer at Hayward High School before returning to the beat as an officer. He also served in the sniper unit of the police department's Special Response Team.
"He was as solid as they come," Keener said. "I never heard a bad word come out of his mouth."The memorial service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Chabot College's Reed L. Buffington Visual & Performing Arts Center at 25555 Hesperian Blvd. in Hayward.