Officer Won’t Be Charged in Fatal Crash

Criminal charges will not be filed against a Los Angeles police officer who drove his patrol car into a pickup truck last March in San Pedro, killing three brothers and injuring several others.

County prosecutors on Wednesday released a 17-page report saying there was insufficient evidence to charge Officer George Ichikawa with vehicular manslaughter.

In particular, prosecutors concluded there was no evidence that Ichikawa, a 25-year police veteran, acted recklessly.

The March 27 collision spotlighted the risks involved in police chases.

It occurred about 8:20 p.m., as Ichikawa and his partner, rookie Keith Aulick, were heading south on Pacific Avenue, responding to a call for assistance at Cabrillo Beach.

At 13th Street, the patrol car collided with a small pickup. The truck had been eastbound on 13th Street, its occupants returning home from a trip to a nearby coin laundry.

The three brothers--Javier Pacheco, 19; Prodencio Pacheco, 15, and Ricardo Pacheco, 5--were thrown from the back of the truck and pronounced dead at the scene.

Another brother, Fernando, 11, suffered a broken collarbone and a cut on his head.

Their father, Fernando Pacheco Sr., who was driving the truck, suffered minor injuries. A cousin, Edgar Martinez, suffered head injuries.

Under the law, prosecutors said, the issue was whether Ichikawa “acted without due regard for the safety of others.”

Traffic accident experts estimated that Ichikawa was traveling at 43 to 50 mph.

Ichikawa said he scanned the intersection before entering it. Aulick, his partner, said Ichikawa swerved to the right seconds before the crash, trying to avoid the truck.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Seki, who wrote the 17-page report, concluded: “There is nothing to indicate that Officer Ichikawa acted recklessly.”

Further, witnesses gave conflicting statements about whether the police car’s lights and sirens were on and about who had the green light--the patrol car or the truck.

And one witness said she heard the pickup accelerate near the corner, suggesting it perhaps was trying to beat the patrol car across the intersection, Seki wrote.

With all that, Seki concluded, “We doubt that a jury would ever be able to render a unanimous verdict in this case.”

A lawyer representing the Pacheco family, James E. Blancarte, said prosecutors’ verdict was “disappointing but not unexpected.”