High-Speed Chase Ends in Crash That Kills 3, Injures 2

A suspected car thief pursued at high speeds by Los Angeles police from downtown Los Angeles to Glendale early Friday slammed into a car carrying three Koreatown restaurant employees, killing two of them and critically injuring the third.

The collision--which ended a 10-mile chase at speeds up to 90 m.p.h. on freeways and surface streets--also critically injured the driver of the stolen Nissan 280-Z and killed the passenger.

Moses Vargas, 21, of Glendale was booked on suspicion of murder and is being held in the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Charles Kunz. The dead passenger was not identified.

Sung Hye Baek, 33, the driver of the Toyota Camry that was broadsided by the Nissan, was dead at the scene, coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said. Yu Mi Cha, 38, died at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, he said. The third woman, Won Ja Cho, was in critical condition at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale. Authorities said the women lived in Glendale and were on their way home from the Hoban Restaurant in Koreatown where they worked.

The chase began about 2:10 a.m. after officers saw the Nissan, its rear window smashed, on 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles. After a computer check indicated that the car was stolen, officers tried to pull it over near 5th and San Pedro streets, but the vehicle sped away.

The officers pursued, first on the Golden State and Glendale freeways, then along Colorado Boulevard in Glendale at speeds up to 90 m.p.h., Kunz said.

About seven minutes after the pursuit began, the sports car slammed into the Toyota at Colorado and Chevy Chase Drive.

John Huh said he and his close-knit staff were devastated by the news of the crash. The restaurateur described the women as longtime employees who all had young children.

“We were like a family,” he said. “It’s like losing a sister.”

He questioned whether police should have conducted a high-speed pursuit on city streets, adding that he planned to ask Korean community organizations to help him protest the incident.

“The police, they have to protect the virtuous citizens,” Huh said. “They made the victims the good citizens. That is not right.”

At a news conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams said the women’s deaths were “truly a tragedy” and that the incident was under investigation.

“We can’t say whether this pursuit was right or wrong,” he said.

Despite the tragic outcome, Kunz said, a preliminary investigation indicated that the officers involved in the chase had followed department policy. The names of the officers were not released.

“If it was high noon--rush-hour traffic with schools letting out--it would have been very appropriate for the officers to break off the pursuit,” Kunz said. “But it was 2 in the morning. Traffic was extremely light.

“These officers had reasonable suspicion that the suspects were driving a stolen vehicle, which is a felony.”

Officers tried to stop the car, but the driver ignored the flashing red lights and sped away, Kunz said. The officers followed, but lost the car a short time later and broadcast an alert.

Another police car--with a single officer--saw the Nissan and followed it west on Temple Street, onto the freeways, and finally along Glendale surface streets, Kunz said. The Nissan sped along Colorado Boulevard at speeds ranging from 50 to 90 m.p.h., running several red lights, while the officers, aided by a helicopter, were in pursuit. The Toyota was heading north on Chevy Chase at Colorado when it was broadsided.

The lieutenant said he did not know how fast the Nissan was traveling at the time. But he said the force of the collision sent the Toyota 140 feet down the block. The Nissan spun out of control and smashed into the wall of a parking lot.

The Los Angeles Police Department was involved in 888 pursuits of cars and motorcycles last year, said Sgt. Jerry Powell of the department’s drivers training unit. Of those chases, he said, 356 ended when the driver crashed and 119 of the incidents involved an accident with bystanders. Officers were involved in 30 of the collisions. In all those accidents, one bystanders person was killed and seven were seriously injured, Powell said. No suspects were killed, and 19 were seriously injured.