Officer Austin Machitar always wanted to make a difference. He said so himself. “All my life, growing up, I felt like I wanted to make this world a better place in whatever way possible, anywhere from picking up that piece of paper of trash to volunteering my time to help kids and adults less fortunate than I am,” he wrote as part of his application for the San Diego Police Department. He wanted to join, Machitar wrote, “and contribute my hard work, ethics and valuable characteristics towards the department’s mission of maintaining peace and order, while providing the highest quality services to America’s Finest City.” San Diego police Officer Austin Machitar. (San Diego Police Department) Machitar, 30, died in the line of duty Aug. 26, killed when a teenage driver fleeing from other officers crashed into his patrol vehicle in Clairemont. Machitar‘s sister said she came across that essay when she sat down to write his eulogy, which she delivered Saturday in front of a standing-room-only crowd. Hundreds of first responders from across the region and beyond filled Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for the memorial service. Speakers talked of Machitar’s ever-present smile, always joyful, always infectious, sometimes mischievous. That grin was featured in some of the department’s recruiting materials. Machitar was with the department for five and a half years. He worked patrol in the Northern Division, and was also a training officer. The son of a retired San Diego County deputy sheriff, he grew up in Chula Vista and was a 2012 graduate of Otay Ranch High School, where he played varsity baseball. To hear his friends and family tell it, Machitar was a prankster. There was the time he ate all of his sister’s crackers but put the bag back on the shelf, full of limes. And there was the time he and a buddy slipped into their sergeant’s office and flipped everything upside down. He loved his job. He deeply loved his large, tight-knit family. San Diego police Chief Scott Wahl had been a captain in the Northern Division when he first encountered Machitar, who was a patrol officer. “I knew from the moment I met him, he was someone special,” Wahl told the crowd. “I knew it immediately, he was a leader. Confidence, courage. He had command presence. I could tell he did nothing halfway.” Mourners included Officer Zachary Martinez, 27, who was riding in the passenger seat and sustained life-threatening injuries in the fiery crash that also killed the teenage driver. At one point during the service Martinez, dressed in his full formal police uniform, stood in front of Machitar’s casket, reached out and touched the American flag draped over it. His injured hands still remain bandaged. Moments later, Martinez and his Northern Division squadmates greeted Machitar’s parents in the front row of the church. Machitar’s father stood up and embraced Martinez, followed by the officer’s mother, who cried as she hugged him. Machitar had trained Martinez, and Martinez later pushed to be teamed up as a partner. The funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 near the Severin Drive bridge from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley, on the way to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Members of law enforcement from around San Diego County salute from the Severin Drive bridge as the funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Members of law enforcement and the public pay their respects from the Severin Drive bridge as the funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) The funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 near the Severin Drive bridge from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley, on the way to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Members of the public and law enforcement from around San Diego County pay their respects from the Severin Drive bridge as the funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Members of the Chula Vista Fire Department salute from atop of their fire engine on the Severin Drive bridge as the funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar went to Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista, and was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) The motorcade and limousine hearse carrying Austin Machitar’s casket arrives at Shadown Mountain Community Church on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in El Cajon, CA. Earlier a procession of police and fire vehicles started its slow trip from Mission Valley to an El Cajon church early Saturday for the memorial service for the San Diego police officer killed in the line of duty last month. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune) A dozen red roses and Austin Machitar’s name has been added to list of names of SDPD officers killed in the line of duty. Earlier a procession of police and fire vehicles started its slow trip from Mission Valley to an El Cajon church early Saturday for the memorial service for the San Diego police officer killed in the line of duty last month. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Show Caption1 of 8The funeral procession for San Diego Police officer Austin Machitar, who was killed in the line of duty on Aug. 26, travels along eastbound Interstate 8 near the Severin Drive bridge from Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley, on the way to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon for his funeral service, Saturday September 21, 2024. Machitar was killed after the suspect vehicle involved in a police pursuit on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard collided with his patrol vehicle, killing him, and severely injuring his partner, officer Zachary Martinez. Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Expand The morning started with a procession of police and fire vehicles leaving Snapdragon Stadium at 7:45 a.m. for the 15-mile trip to the church. Fellow first responders from varying agencies stood on overpasses, saluting as the procession passed below. Members of the public, strangers to Machitar, also lined overpasses and gathered near the church. “We are respecting our officer. He serves our country and so we want to respect him,” said Janny Andersen, who brought her 12-year-old son Ryland. Another family also made its way to a spot near the church. “Even though we didn’t know him personally, we can still come out, take your hat off and show your respect,” said Jessica Taylor. She was with her husband and their two children, ages 10 and 14. As people arrived for the services, they were greeted with a slideshow of photos of Machitar, and the image of his badge, wrapped in a black band. At the front of the church, two officers stood guard next to his flag-draped coffin. Several San Diego dignitaries attended the service. Speakers included Mayor Todd Gloria and state Sen. Steve Padilla, who knew Machitar through his daughter. Toward the end of the service, Chaplin Chris Chadwick, told the room that Machitar always carried three items with him at work: a vial of his deceased dog’s ashes, the St. Christopher medal his father had worn for 31 years as a deputy, and a necklace with his grandfather’s cross. Chadwick, who works with the department’s Northern Division, told the audience the necklace and cross survived the fire from the crash, but with a bit of patina. Chadwick said Machitar’s father told him that makes it “more perfect, more beautiful. It’s a piece of Austin’s life.” Following the service, Machitar’s casket and his family were escorted out of the church to the sounds of bagpipes and drums, as hundreds of officers stood in formation, saluting. A riderless horse, empty boots facing backward in the saddle stirrups, was guided past the formation. “This practice is upheld to symbolize the fallen officer, looking back upon his department for the last time before he departs from us to Heaven,” San Diego police Lt. Dan Meyer told the crowd. Law enforcement officers salute during the playing of taps at Austin Machitar’s memorial services at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune). A 21-gun salute, a lone trumpeter playing “Taps,” a chorus of bagpipes performing “Amazing Grace,” a flyover from three of the police department’s helicopters — all wound down the service as Machitar’s family tightly held the folded flag that had covered his casket. The ceremony ended with another tradition, which was broadcast live over all San Diego police frequencies and piped in so the crowd could hear. The dispatcher called out his badge number, twice. No response. She then highlighted Machitar’s contributions and spoke of “his ultimate sacrifice.” “ID number 7989 is 10-42,” the dispatch ends. Machitar’s badge number was 7989. Code 10-42 is police speak for end of watch.