3 Collisions Injure 6 Officers, 3 Motorists

Police officers like to say that if you’re in a black-and-white, anything can happen. They were saying it again Wednesday after three Los Angeles Police Department cruisers, out on separate patrols, were involved in serious accidents within one hour.

Nine people ended up injured, six of them cops.

The worst accident was the last one, at the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and 8th Street in the Westlake district west of downtown about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Officers Craig Heredia and Dustin Sclater, members of the Rampart Division’s anti-gang unit, were traveling in a patrol car when they were struck by a van that police said was making an illegal left turn.

Police said the cruiser was propelled into the air by the crash and landed on a curb, the impact blowing out all four tires and rendering the car a total loss.

Heredia, who was sitting on the passenger’s side, suffered severe cuts to his head, a concussion and a broken right wrist. Sclater also had cuts and bruises to the head. Both were hospitalized in stable condition.

Lt. Anthony Alba, an LAPD spokesman, said the van, driven by Joon Kim, 49, of Monterey Park, ended up careening over a curb, hitting a planter and a telephone pole, and slamming against a building.

Kim, who police said had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15% to 0.16%--about twice the legal standard for driving under the influence--was arrested at the scene on suspicion of felony drunk driving. He did not suffer serious injuries, although he complained of knee pain, Alba said, adding that Kim was released after posting $50,000 bail.

Sgt. Laura Thomas, a Rampart watch commander, said police in cruisers often become the unwitting targets of drunk drivers who “have a tendency to see a black-and-white and just lock on the police car [with their eyes] because they get nervous. . . . Sometimes they end up hitting officers.”

She said the accidents would cause officers in her division, who patrol some of the most crowded streets in the city, to drive even more defensively.

The string of incidents began about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in Van Nuys when a car trying to make a left turn at an intersection cut in front of two officers’ cruiser, hitting it head-on.

The officers, Ana Mejia and Matthew Maudin of the Van Nuys Division, were treated for minor neck and back pains and released.

The driver of the car, 53-year-old Pedrina Sunun of Reseda, was cited for failure to yield while making a left turn, said Officer Andy Moon. Sunun was treated for head, neck and shoulder injuries, officials said. Sunun’s 17-year-old daughter, a passenger in the car, was hospitalized with multiple pelvis fractures and a concussion, police said.

Three minutes later and a couple miles to the west, it happened again.

A squad car with two officers from the West Valley Division, on its way to the Van Nuys accident scene and driving without sirens or emergency lights, was hit by a car at an intersection, police said.

Both the driver and the officers claimed the traffic lights were green for them, Moon said. The officers were treated for minor injuries and released. The driver, Jesus Bejarano, 21, declined medical attention.

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One Hour, Three Accidents

Six LAPD officers and three other people were injured late Tuesday and early Wednesday in three accidents that happened within an hour. The first two occurred in the San Fernando Valley. The third happened in the Westlake area near MacArthur Park.