‘Person of interest’ detained in fatal LAPD crash; no arrest yet

A person detained after a weekend crash that killed a Los Angeles police officer remained in custody Monday but has not been arrested, officials said.

The “person of interest” has been linked to an SUV that struck an LAPD squad car; he was detained about a mile from Saturday’s crash, which occurred before 4 a.m. in Harbor City.

No other information was available about the individual, who may have been the driver or a passenger in the vehicle.

“We’re trying to ascertain his involvement in the situation,” Cmdr. Andy Smith said at a news conference Saturday, noting that because the cars involved were destroyed, investigators will have to look at video footage from the patrol car to figure out what happened.

“It’s really tough,” he said.

The officers were making a U-turn to follow a car moving at high speed when they were broadsided by an SUV at about 3:55 a.m. near the intersection of Senator Avenue and Anaheim Street, Smith said.

The officer killed in the collision, 32-year-old Roberto Sanchez, was a six-year veteran assigned to the Harbor Area, police said. His partner was initially listed in critical condition but was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon and is recovering at home, department spokeswoman Officer Wendy Reyes said.

Sanchez was the third LAPD officer killed in traffic collisions this year. In March, an officer was killed in a crash involving a truck in Beverly Hills. In April, an LAPD motorcycle officer died after being hit by an alleged drunk driver.

Los Angeles police investigators are still trying to determine the circumstances leading up to Saturday’s crash.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said that many important questions remained unanswered.

“Only two individuals know exactly what the officers were doing,” he said at Saturday’s news conference. “One is severely injured. The other one is deceased.”

By midmorning Saturday, Smith said investigators had been able to string together only a “really, really preliminary” idea of what occurred.

Based on the positions of the vehicles and the account of the severely injured officer, he said, it is believed the patrol car at the time was following a white Camaro traveling east on Anaheim Street.

The Camaro and the patrol car both made U-turns. The third vehicle involved in the accident, a Chevy Tahoe, also heading east, plowed into the driver’s side of the patrol car as the officers were completing their turn, Smith said.

He said the department did not yet know whether the patrol car’s sirens or lights were on at the time or whether drugs or alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

The driver of the SUV that hit the patrol car fled the scene on foot, authorities said. The crash was so severe the patrol car radio was inoperable and the surviving officer had to use his cellphone to call for help, Smith said.

Condolences poured in from Gov. Jerry Brown and the local police union.

“Once again our hearts are broken,” Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tyler Izen said in a statement, noting that another veteran officer, George Nagata, had died from a medical condition while on duty overnight. “This is a hard time for the LAPD family having lost two dedicated and well-liked officers in the last 24 hours.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered flags flown at half-staff.

“Officer Sanchez died a hero, but that does not lessen the blow to his family and fellow officers,” Garcetti said. “This third loss of an officer in the line of duty in just two months is a stark and tragic reminder of the dangers our first responders face every day.”