Witness Describes Fatal 1984 Accident
A Lomita woman on Tuesday supported much of the Torrance Police Department’s version of a fatal 1984 traffic accident between an off-duty police sergeant and a San Pedro teen-ager.
Suzanne Kelly Johnson testified that Kelly Rastello, 19, sped into the intersection of Rolling Hills Road and Whiffletree Lane nearly five years ago after Torrance Police Sgt. Rollo Green had already started to turn left in front of him.
Rastello died in the accident and his father, John, filed a lawsuit charging that Green caused the accident by driving drunk and making an illegal turn. The suit also claims that Green’s colleagues concealed his wrongdoing as part of a pattern in which Torrance police whitewashed acts of misconduct.
Johnson’s testimony, however, seemed to support the contention by lawyers for the Police Department and Green that it was Rastello’s speed that made the accident unavoidable.
Rastello sped past her on the right just before the collision, Johnson testified. “It was a split second,” she said. “He just flew past me.”
Police reports say that Johnson estimated at the time of the crash that Rastello was driving at 45 to 50 m.p.h. in the 35-m.p.h. zone, but she testified Tuesday that Rastello was going 60 m.p.h. or more.
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