Authorities Saturday identified the 34-year-old man who was killed along with a veteran Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who stopped his patrol vehicle on the San Diego (405) Freeway to help him after he was injured in a crash earlier this week.
Jesus Garcia was killed along with LAPD Sgt. Shiou Deng on June 23.
According to the California Highway Patrol, officers from the agency’s West Los Angeles office responded to the southbound freeway just north of Moraga Drive at about 2 a.m., initially in response to a single-vehicle crash.
“Officers found a Toyota pickup … disabled in the HOV and No. 1 lanes,” according to a CHP statement. “Shortly after the crash, LAPD Sgt. Shiou Deng arrived in a marked patrol vehicle with emergency lights activated and stopped behind the Toyota, partially blocking the same lanes. As Sgt. Deng exited his vehicle to assist … a Nissan sedan, driven by Mario Bickham, struck the patrol vehicle and then hit Sgt. Deng.”
The collision also fatally injured Garcia, the pickup driver, who was standing outside his vehicle in the traffic lanes and died at the scene.
Paramedics took Deng to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, where he died from his injuries.
Bickham was also taken by ambulance to a hospital, but there was no word on his condition.
A GoFundMe site set up by Garcia’s family describes him as “a loving son, brother, uncle, and friend whose kindness and warmth touched everyone he met.”
According to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, the 53-year-old Shiou “stopped his patrol SUV to offer assistance.”
“He saw that it was a serious crash and he activated his rear amber lights in an effort to be able to slow traffic behind him and provide some level of safety for the people who were involved in that collision,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell said the sergeant achieved his current rank two years ago and was assigned to the department’s West Los Angeles Division.
“He’s an exceptional guy,” McDonnell said. “A true leader. A true hero. He had 26 1/2 years on the LAPD. During that time, he spent about 17 of those years working our Mental Evaluation Unit, where he was out there every day caring for the most vulnerable in our society.”