An off-duty Los Angeles police officer and his front-seat passenger were killed Saturday morning in a two-vehicle crash in Northridge triggered by a vehicle that ran a red light at over 100 mph, authorities said.
The 20-year-old motorist behind the wheel of the black, four-door BMW was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said during a morning news conference in front of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Moore added that the driver was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.
A passenger in the back seat of the officer’s white Infinity, an off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy, was also injured in the crash, Moore said.
Firefighters were called to 18101 W. Roscoe Blvd., near the intersection with Lindley Avenue, at 1:19 a.m. Saturday, where they found three people trapped inside vehicles, one car lodged against a building and a damaged fire hydrant, according to spokeswoman Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
LAFD paramedics pronounced the LAPD officer and his front-seat passenger dead at the scene. Fire crews freed the trapped victims and took them to a hospital, where they were said to be in serious condition. The BMW driver was one of those injured.
Moore said the officer, who had just less than five years on the job, was survived by a fiancee, a 3-year-old son and a 6-year-old son. The officer had worked out of the department’s West Los Angeles station.