L.A. Deputy Gets His Man, but Patrol Car Escapes
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s patrol car was involved in a traffic collision on the Ventura Freeway in Agoura Hills on Wednesday, but the deputy wasn’t injured. In fact, he wasn’t even in the cruiser.
About 3:25 p.m., Deputy William Eggebrecht pulled over a motorist on the westbound Ventura Freeway east of Reyes Adobe Road, said Lt. Greg Johnson. As the deputy approached the car, the driver yelled at him. Eggebrecht turned to see his patrol car launch itself across all lanes of the freeway, headed for the center divider.
It crashed into the median after clipping the right side of a 1991 Nissan Pathfinder, driven by Khoi Pham, 20, of Lake Forest. Pham wasn’t injured but her passenger, 82-year-old Niot Pham, complained of pain. She declined medical treatment, Johnson said.
It was not known if Eggebrecht inadvertently put his car into reverse while moving his shift lever from park into drive or if the cruiser was in park but somehow the transmission kicked into reverse, Johnson said. The cause is under investigation and the patrol car will be inspected by sheriff’s fleet management officials at its site in East Los Angeles, he said.
Whether the unlucky motorist got a ticket after the incident was also unknown.
“Probably not,” Johnson said with a laugh. “[Eggebrecht was] probably not going to stop and write a ticket after that happened.”
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