Deputy Pat Coyle, 42, was critically injured and died about three hours after his aircraft crashed while investigating suspected trespassers. The accident occurred at 19:44 hours on private property near Santee Lakes, a rural area about 20 miles northeast of San Diego.

His death marked the first fatality in the 25-year history of the sheriff's ASTREA helicopter unit.

Coyle, during a funeral Mass in the Immaculata at the University of San Diego, was eulogized as a devoted husband and father who had attained his dream job as a flying sheriff's deputy.

"Patrick Steven Coyle was a heroic and courageous deputy sheriff who never gave up," Sheriff Bill Kolender said. He died with his law enforcement friends - his second family. He was never alone."

Coyle's law enforcement family came to honor him, and a procession of black and white cars wound its way from San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium to the church. The pews were filled with a sea of deputies in olive drab dress uniforms adorned with black mourning ribbons, and with friends from as far away as Scottsdale, Arizona, and Northern California.

An oversized portrait of a beaming Coyle was in front of the altar, where 20 years before he had graduated from high school. Maybe that smile, described as the kind one could hear, provided some comfort.

Police Chief Mike Poehlman of Oceanside, Coyle's close friend for 25 years, said Coyle reminded him of the central character in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. "Coyle was a generous, big-hearted man who was able to touch many people in his short but full life," he said. He was "a real family person, very devoted to his children and helping young people in the community."

"All he wanted to be was a street cop," Poehlman said, "All he wanted to be was where the action was." Poehlman recalled their start in law enforcement as police cadets in El Cajon, the Catholic faith they shared, and the good times they spent body-surfing on beaches from Ocean Beach to Oceanside.

He talked of the love Coyle had for his wife of 13 years, Jackie; his daughter, Chelsea, 5; and his son, Cory, 9. "I think those (heavenly) hosts are saying here lived a great friend who did his job," Poehlman said, "Thanks God for sharing him before taking him back to you.” Coyle had worked as a deputy in the Central and Vista jails, on patrol in Fallbrook and recently staffed overtime shifts in San Marcos, where many deputies knew him. "His personality was magnetic," San Marcos Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Coppes said. "He was a gentleman and very well respected."

Sgt. Frank Adams of the Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation was Coyle's superior during his two years there. Coyle took routine patrols in Fallbrook and was instrumental in starting the station's bicycle patrol, Adams said.

Coyle "was a very proactive deputy," he added. "People enjoyed him. He was the mascot of the station, a big teddy bear and a good guy. You could really depend on him."

Coyle had a lifelong Interest in flying. Had a private pilot license, was instrument certified and was working on a commercial pilot license, Poehlman said. In addition, he was an avid body surfer and had served as a judge several times in the world body surfing championships.

"He was very enthusiastic about his job," said Sgt. Jack Dunn of the Sheriff’s Aviation Unit Deputy Coyle, an Oceanside resident, was responsible for getting a sheriff's helicopter dedicated to the North County, he said.

"It's easy to say something good about someone after they're gone," added Dunn, "but he was in fact extremely well liked by the people he worked with." Coyle was also a parishioner at St. Francis Catholic Church in Vista. Both San Diego natives, Poehlman and Coyle met as 17-year-old high school students in the El Cajon Police Department's cadets program. "It was there where we became friends," Po