CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : WESTMINSTER : Officer Acquitted in 2 Traffic Deaths

In a case that attorneys say has sweeping implications for drivers of emergency vehicles, a Westminster police officer was acquitted of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of two young women whose car he struck last Christmas Day. In an emotionally charged courtroom, a six-man, six-woman jury ruled that Thomas Richard, 23, was not negligent when he sped through an intersection at more than 80 m.p.h. in his patrol car while responding to an officer’s call for help and plowed into a vehicle driven by Jessica Warren, 19, of Stanton. Warren and her passenger, Dawn Hammond, 20, of Costa Mesa, were pronounced dead at the scene. Hammond’s mother, Janet, burst into tears upon hearing the verdict. Warren’s father, William, put his head in his hands. Paul S. Meyer, Richard’s attorney, said a conviction would have prevented operators of emergency vehicles from performing their duties properly because of fear of litigation.