A 36-year-old man was arrested and charged with murder Monday for a 2025 crash on the San Diego (405) Freeway near Bel-Air that killed a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant and another motorist.
Mario Joseph Bickham was arrested Monday morning and was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to jail records.
He was charged Monday with two counts of murder stemming from the 2 a.m. June 23, 2025, crash which occurred on the southbound 405 Freeway just north of Moraga Drive. The crash killed 53-year-old LAPD Sgt. Shiou Deng and 34-year-old Jesus Garcia.
Bickham was scheduled to be arraigned sometime Monday in downtown Los Angeles, according to court records.
“Sergeant Deng lived his life the way most of us wish we could — with kindness, with humor, and with purpose,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said at Deng’s funeral last year. “He didn’t just do the job, he lifted up people doing it beside him. He made people laugh when they needed it most. He made them feel seen, valued and included.”
McDonnell and District Attorney Nathan Hochman were expected to hold a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss Bickham’s arrest and the criminal case. California Highway Patrol Southern Division Chief Chris Margaris was also scheduled to attend.
According to the CHP, officers from the agency’s West Los Angeles office initially responded to the southbound freeway 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 last year.
“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.”
Garcia, the driver of the Toyota, was standing outside his vehicle and was also struck. He died at the scene. Deng was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, where he was pronounced dead. Bickham also suffered major injuries in the crash but survived.
A GoFundMe page created by Garcia’s family described him as “a loving son, brother, uncle, and friend whose kindness and warmth touched everyone he met.”
According to McDonnell, Deng was promoted to sergeant in 2023 and was assigned to the department’s West Los Angeles Division. Deng had 26 1/2 years on the LAPD, 17 of which he served in the LAPD Mental Evaluation Unit.