Deputy Was Intent on Joining Motorcycle Unit

Worried for his safety, Brandan Hinkle’s family urged him against becoming a motorcycle cop. But Hinkle, of Aliso Viejo, was determined. A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for 11 years, he vowed to put behind him a previous, unsuccessful attempt to join the elite unit of motorcycle deputies.

And this time, he looked destined for success. Hinkle, 33, was flying through training and was only weeks from finishing when a head-on collision with a car took his life Wednesday.

“His wife, myself, his mother, his brothers, none of us wanted to see him on a bike,” his father, Leon Hinkle, said. “But that’s what he wanted. There was just no changing his mind.”

Sheriff’s officials said Thursday that Hinkle lost control of his motorcycle during a training exercise on a curving road and veered into oncoming traffic near Diamond Bar. The woman driving the car that struck him and a 2-year-old passenger were treated for minor injuries.

As investigators tried to piece together the cause of the accident, friends and family recalled Hinkle as a fun-loving prankster who was living out his dream of working as an officer.

“Brandan loved to make people laugh and . . . used laughter to relieve the tension that he would sometimes feel while on duty,” his family said in a statement. “He was a big kid at heart, but he knew when to be serious.”

After spending more than five years in the department’s Lomita station, Hinkle longed to join the motorcycle enforcement detail. The unit enjoys a prestigious reputation and its deputies receive higher salaries. Last fall, Hinkle entered motor school but failed one of the early riding tests.

He remained undeterred, though. Deciding he needed more riding practice, Hinkle bought a secondhand Kawasaki Police 1000--the very model the Sheriff’s Department uses--and for months rode the bike to and from work until he felt ready to try again.

Two weeks ago, Hinkle moved one step closer to fulfilling his ambition when he graduated from motor school. To qualify as a motorcycle deputy, he needed to complete 160 hours of riding alongside a training officer.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hinkle was halfway through the training, riding behind his supervisor on Brea Canyon Cutoff, when he suddenly swerved into oncoming traffic. He is the first motorcycle deputy to be killed in the unit’s 10-year history.

“He was very, very proud to be an L.A. County deputy. And he was very proud that he had made it through motor school,” said Leon Hinkle, 70. “It’s so devastating.”

The department’s flag flew at half-staff Thursday at the sheriff’s emergency vehicle center in Pomona.

“It was a bad night for all of us,” said Sgt. Tim Curtis, who oversees the department’s motorcycle unit. Hinkle is survived by his wife of six years, Michelle.