Officer Killed in Bush Motorcade

For the second time in recent months a police motor officer was killed while working the Bush motorcade:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A police officer in President Bush's motorcade crashed his motorcycle and died Monday, less than a year after a crash in Hawaii killed another motorcycle officer accompanying the president.

Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

"Any time there is a presidential motorcade, the officers, that's part of their job, they drive at a high rate of speed," said Hoffman, whose department is investigating the crash.

Rio Rancho police department spokesman Officer John Francis said Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree, but investigators were reconstructing the accident to determine exactly what happened....

Bush called Casey's wife, Lisa, from his limousine on the way to the airport in Seattle to offer condolences, Stanzel said.

The president issued a statement saying he was saddened by Casey's death and extraordinarily grateful for his protection.

I had a friend who was a former Secret Service agent and was in charge of handling the security for Queen Elizabeth's visit to Yosemite during the Reagan administration. Four of his advance agents were in car well ahead of the motorcade when they were hit by a drunk driver and all four agents were killed (the drunk survived). Executive protection is a dangerous business.