Clayton Townsend ID’d As Salt River AZ Police Officer Killed During Tuesday Traffic Stop

SCOTTSVILLE, AZ. (THECOUNT) — Clayton Townsend has been identified as the Salt River Police officer killed on the freeway near Scottsdale on Tuesday.

The Salt River Police Department has provided little information on the deadly incident saying the officer served five years on the force. He left behind a wife and a 10-month-old child.

He has been identified as Clayton Townsend who had served for five years on the force. source

Police said he conducted a traffic stop on northbound Loop 101 just south of McDowell Road off ramp when the fatal incident occurred.

Developing.

The Salt River is a stream in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin is about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2) large. The longest of the Salt River’s many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt’s headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river’s total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the fact that the river flows over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers, source wikipedia.