CHP Says Driver May Have Been Drinking : 3 Off-Duty Officers Hurt in Crash

Three off-duty California Highway Patrol officers were seriously injured early Friday when their automobile, traveling at up to 90 m.p.h., crashed along Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, authorities said.

Although no arrests were made, CHP Capt. Bill Brown said a preliminary investigation found that the highway patrolman who was driving apparently had been drinking.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Dennis Zine said police will ask the district attorney’s office to consider filing felony drunk-driving charges in the case.

Richard Campbell, 34, the driver of the car, was listed in serious condition at Northridge Community Hospital, with internal bleeding and injuries, a broken arm and multiple cuts and bruises, the CHP said. Also in serious condition at the hospital were Campbell’s companions, James Fields, 33, and Patrick Curran, 26. Officials did not give the men’s addresses.

The three officers, all stationed at the Central Division of the CHP in Los Angeles, had been off duty more than three hours when the accident occurred at 1:45 a.m. near the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and De Soto Avenue, Brown said.

Los Angeles Police Department officers, who had stopped at the intersection, saw Campbell’s car speed west down Ventura Boulevard, crash into a sheltered bus bench, shear off a light pole, then roll over and slide for about 150 feet before stopping, Brown said.

Campbell, a four-year veteran of the CHP, was ejected from the car. His companions, who wore seat belts, remained in the car until it stopped moving, Brown said.

Brown said investigators could not immediately determine where the men had been since their shift ended at 10:30 p.m. But he said a preliminary LAPD investigation indicated that Campbell had been drinking.