Gibson was a Marine Corps veteran who earned a Purple Heart serving in the Iraq War. He had been an officer in Cathedral City for 18 months and had a 4-week-old baby.
Governor Jerry Brown issued a statement praising Gibson's sacrifice.
Police said that in Palm Springs, two suspects, one of them a parolee, hit another palm tree in a Ford Mustang that had been reported stolen. They were hospitalized with what police called major injuries.
