Preliminary Probe Exonerates Officers Whose Car Killed Boy

A preliminary Police Department investigation has concluded that two Rampart Division officers were not at fault when their squad car hit and killed a 10-year-old boy in the Westlake district this month.

Lt. Charlie Kunz of the LAPD’s traffic coordination section, which conducted the initial investigation, said witness interviews, pavement examination and damage to the vehicle seemed to indicate that the officers were traveling within the posted speed limit of 25 m.p.h.

The child, whose name is being withheld pending the outcome of a final investigation, died after he was struck by the patrol car in the 400 block of Occidental Boulevard on July 2, police said.

The officers were responding to a shooting several blocks away under Code 2 status, which directs them to drive without sirens or flashing lights and obey standard traffic rules, including speed limits.

The accident occurred around 5 p.m. when the boy, who weighed about 120 pounds, ran into the street in front of the vehicle. He was attending a friend’s birthday party nearby and had been playing hide-and-seek, police said.