SAN DIEGO -- Thousands from the law enforcement community gathered at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon Saturday to remember the life and legacy of 39-year-old Deputy Ken Collier.

A somber motorcade made its way from Qualcomm stadium to the church Saturday morning as community members watched from freeway overpasses.

All officers wore a band of black around their police badge, as a show of solidarity.

Deputy Collier was killed Sunday, Feb. 28th while chasing a DUI suspect driving the wrong way along state route 52.

Collier and a passenger, county dispatcher Ryan Debellis, were heading west in a sheriff's marked sport utility vehicle amid foggy conditions about 3:15 a.m. when they spotted a car coming at them on the wrong side of the road, according to investigators. Collier, a nine-year department veteran, made a U-turn and radioed that he was trying to overtake the driver. Moments later, the Ford Expedition he was driving on a paved part of the median struck a bridge abutment, careened off the freeway and tumbled several hundred feet down a steep hillside. The SUV then caught fire.

Despite his injuries, Collier was able to alert dispatchers about the accident. Following a difficult rescue, medics airlifted him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before daybreak. Debellis was not seriously injured.

Officers caught up with the wrong-way driver, Jose Pedro Lopez Jasso, 22, and arrested him about a mile from the scene of the fatal accident. Jasso, who allegedly admitted to drinking and smoking marijuana earlier in the night, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

Prior to joining the Sheriff's Department, Collier served for three years with the county Marshals Office.

Friends remembered him as steadfast, dependable, and someone with a great sense of humor.

Sheriff William Gore told 10 news, "he was a big man with a big heart and I know this would have made him feel good. Knowing his sense of humor, he probably would have found it hard to believe this was all for him."

Deputy Collier is survived by his brother, sister, and fiance.