Press Enterprise: Part of 60 Freeway renamed for slain Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Isaiah Cordero

By Jeff Horseman

Part of the 60 Freeway will honor a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who was shot and killed during a December 2022 traffic stop in Jurupa Valley.

A state Senate resolution renaming the stretch of the 60 between Valley Way and Pyrite Street in Jurupa Valley for Deputy Isaiah Cordero officially became law Wednesday, Aug. 23.

The resolution, SCR 16, passed the Senate in April and the Assembly earlier this month. A freeway sign will note the location of the Deputy Isaiah A. Cordero Memorial Highway.

A motorcycle deputy, Cordero, 32, was shot the afternoon of Dec. 29 while walking to a pickup on Golden West Avenue near Rustic Lane Elementary School in Jurupa Valley.

The suspect was a three-strike felon out on bail who skipped court while awaiting sentencing for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. He died in a shootout with police shortly after killing Cordero.

Nicknamed “El Nene” as a boy, Cordero was remembered by loved ones and colleagues as a kind, upbeat and humble person who handed out Christmas presents to children from the back of his patrol car and played in a punk rock band while at Cajon High School in San Bernardino.

A 2008 Cajon graduate at age 17, Cordero joined the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 2014 as a correctional deputy before being promoted to deputy four years later and a motorcycle deputy in 2022.

“When faced with danger on that residential street in Jurupa Valley, Deputy Cordero didn’t flinch from his duty to protect the community, he didn’t run away from the danger, he ran into it,” Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, a lead author of the resolution, said in a news release.

Another lead author, Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, also praised Cordero in the release.

“Deputy Isaiah Cordero’s unwavering dedication to serving the people of California will always be remembered as a remarkable legacy,” Bogh said.

Riverside Sheriffs’ Association President Bill Young said in the release that, “although Isaiah is no longer with us, he will never be forgotten by his brothers and sisters in the Riverside County law enforcement community.”