Police officer killed by friendly fire remembered

A 35-year-old Lakewood police officer who was accidentally shot and killed Friday by another officer is being remembered as a focused, undaunted public servant.

Police say James Davies was in the backyard of a home when an officer behind a fence in another yard mistook him for an armed suspect and issued unspecified commands. Davies, who was in full uniform, was shot after he failed to respond.

Sgt. John Hitchens, who oversees the special-enforcement team of which Davies was a member, says “Jim was so single-mindedly focused on doing the job the best he could, he could not be exasperated.”

Davies leaves behind a wife and two young children.

The Denver Post reports (http://bit.ly/WUdvCu ) the last time a Colorado officer was killed by friendly fire was in 1984.

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Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com