Driver charged in East Bay crash that killed rookie CHP officer

A 22-year-old man who killed a rookie California Highway Patrol officer on Christmas Eve after slamming his car into the back of the officer’s parked patrol car was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder.

Alameda County Dist. Atty. Nancy O’Malley identified Mohammed Ali of Hayward as the driver of the speeding Cadillac that drifted off Interstate 880 and crashed against Officer Andrew Camilleri’s sport utility patrol vehicle.

Camilleri was killed in the crash. His partner, Jonathan Velasquez, who was in the driver’s seat, was treated at a hospital and released.

O’Malley said Ali, who has been hospitalized since the Dec. 24 wreck, also was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs and driving more than 100 mph.

CHP Assistant Chief Ernest Sanchez said Ali is expected to be released from a hospital in the next 48 hours and will be jailed in Santa Rita.

The police SUV was parked on the interstate’s shoulder in Hayward as the officers watched for dangerous drivers when Ali crashed into them, police said.

Family, friends and hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters from around the country gathered Saturday in the Central California city of Stockton to remember Camilleri.

Camilleri, who had been a CHP officer since March, is survived by his wife and three children, ages 12, 6 and 2, according to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.