Suspect Arraigned in Murder of Corona Officer on Freeway

The man accused of shooting an off-duty Corona police officer to death on the Riverside Freeway pleaded not guilty Friday.

Harold Harvey Hawks, 26, was arraigned in Riverside Municipal Court, where he also denied the special allegation of using a gun, said Richard G. Van Frank, a Riverside County deputy district attorney.

Police investigators had said Hawks told them that he fired his 12-gauge shotgun at a van Aug. 22 but said he didn’t know he had struck anyone. He is being held at Riverside County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The Pomona resident told investigators that he just wanted to scare the driver of a van that flashed its bright lights and tried to pass him on the Riverside Freeway, according to Corona police.

A single slug ripped through the side of the Dwyer family’s van, killing Patricia Dwyer, 45, Corona’s first female police officer and a mother of three. It narrowly missed her son and seriously injured a family friend.

Wendy Varga, 21, was wounded in the throat, leaving her unable to talk and her left arm paralyzed. She was released from Corona Community Hospital last week, and her condition since is not known.

Hawks was arrested four days after the shooting at a friend’s house in Pomona.

Police also searched the Pomona house that Hawks shares with his parents and found a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun with a folding stock and pistol grip, and ammunition for the gun, investigators said.

The special allegation of using a gun in committing a crime would add two years to Hawks’ sentence if he is convicted, Van Frank said. A preliminary hearing in the case was set for Oct. 17.