:PITTSBURGH — A 30-year-old Butler County municipal police officer was killed Wednesday night in a motorcycle crash on the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh.

Kristine Bartman of Jackson Township, a part-time patrol officer for the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department, was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital at 11:23 p.m., less than one-half hour after the wreck.

“Our entire department is reeling,” police Chief Joe McCombs said this morning. “Kristine was an outstanding officer and so well liked and respected. It's tough.”

Pittsburgh police continue to investigate the crash and an autopsy was planned today, according to a supervisor at the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

An accident report was not immediately available but investigators said the crash happened at 10:56 p.m. when the motorcycle Bartman was driving and a car collided on the bridge between Downtown and the city's South Hills.

Police said Bartman was wearing a helmet, but they released no other details.

An accident reconstruction team was at the scene investigating until after midnight, authorities said.

A Pittsburgh police commander, after learning that Bartman was a police officer, called McCombs just minutes after the wreck.

“That's how I heard about it,” he said.

The chief, in turn, notified his officers. The entire force quickly headed to Mercy Hospital.

“We wanted to be there to support her and her family,” McCombs said.

He and most of the his officers got there between 12:25 and 12:30 a.m. today.

Bartman was married. She had no children.

Bartman was a member of the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department for about a year and a half. She had not worked for another department when she was hired.

“In a short time here,” McCombs said, “she had become a phenomenal police officer. There's not enough that can be said about her.”