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Report: Seat belt could have saved Aurora cop

Published August 31, 2007 at midnight

An Aurora police officer who died after his car flipped last March could have survived if he had been wearing a seat belt as he sped to a park where a man was having a seizure, according to a report released today.

The report on Officer Doug Byrne's death also said that if he knew paramedics were already on scene, he would "have chosen to respond at a slower speed and in a more controlled manner."

Byrne, 37, was driving east on East Sixth Avenue at 7:36 p.m. on March 25 to help a man having who was having a life-threatening seizure at Hoops Park, 16300 E. Sixth Ave.

Before he arrived at the scene, Byrne swerved to miss another car and was launched across a median. He later died from his injuries.

"If Officer Byrne had the seat belt engaged at the time of the accident, the outcome may have been different," said the report prepared by Aurora police.

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