Portion of Highway 12 will be renamed today in memory of Rio Vista officer killed in crash

A section of Highway 12 will be renamed today for a Rio Vista police officer who died when an oncoming driver crashed into his vehicle on the two-lane road that has become known for its hazards.

David Frank Lamoree was driving home from work on Oct. 21, 2005, when a 17-year-old Acampo teenager crossed over the double yellow line to pass a slow-moving big rig. The vehicles collided at 11:04 p.m. just west of Highway 113, between Fairfield and Rio Vista.

Lamoree was extricated from his vehicle and airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he was taken off life support two days later, on his 26th birthday.

The Acampo teen, who was driving several friends home from a football game, was injured, as were two passengers. Another passenger, Vincent Albert Ellis, 18, died in the crash.

Ellis, a senior with a 4.0 grade point average at Brookside Christian High School, was the son of prominent Stockton defense attorney Albert Ellis.

Highway 12, which consists of two lanes with narrow shoulders through the Delta, has seen numerous fatal head-on crashes and spurred legislation to make it safer.

Recent changes have included rumble strips down the center of the road, repainted double yellow lines down the entire highway and double-fine zones with increased police patrols.

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, has pushed for more safety on Highway 12, and she introduced legislation to rename a portion of the road after Lamoree. The California Senate and Assembly passed it unanimously Sept. 6, 2007, renaming the section of Highway 12 between Olsen Road and Highway 113.

Wolk and other officials will attend today's naming ceremony at the Rio Vista Police Department, where Lamoree had worked for two years.

Born in Vallejo, Lamoree had wanted to be a police officer since the age of 10, according to Wolk's legislation. He graduated from Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville, then earned a criminal justice degree from Solano Community College, where he spent six months on the police force.

He spent several years with the San Pablo Police Department before going to Rio Vista.

Just six weeks before his death, Lamoree married a Polish student who was in the U.S. on a student visa. In addition to his wife, Lamoree left behind his parents and sister. His father, Chuck Lamoree, had previously served as a city attorney in Vacaville and Rio Vista, and as attorney for the Solano Transportation Authority.

After Lamoree's family decided to take him off life support, they donated his organs, which potentially saved eight lives, according to Wolk's legislation.

Lamoree had been nicknamed "Woody," after the earnest cowboy in the "Toy Story" movies.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.