By Joshua Tehee
The Fresno Bee
FRESNO, Calif. — A portion of Highway 180 has been named in honor of Fresno Police officer Phia Vang.
Close to 100 people including, family, friends and community leaders, met Saturday to unveil signage designating the Officer Phia Vang Memorial Interchange at Highway 180 and Temperance Avenue.
The event was attended by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, police Chief Paco Balderrama and Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, along with Vang’s son and brother.
Vang, a 48-year-old married father of four, came to the United States from Laos in 1980 and relocated to the Fresno area in 1982. He was only the third Hmong officer on the Fresno Police Department when he was hired in 1993. Over the years, he worked in the southeast, northwest and southwest districts as a patrol officer and also with the MAGEC anti-gang unit.
Vang was killed in a car crash the freeway in 2019 when a wrong-way driver collided with multiple vehicles before slamming into Vang’s pickup. Vang was on his way home from work at the time. The driver was also killed in the incident near McCall Avenue.
Patterson authored the Assembly bill, which was passed in September.
https://twitter.com/JimPatterson559/status/1505299974208176131 https://twitter.com/BalderramaPaco/status/1505264158706610176 https://twitter.com/MayorJerryDyer/status/1505255304547602434 https://twitter.com/ABC30/status/1505540942803132416
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