3 Deputies Injured in Head-On Crash

PALMDALE — While responding to a robbery Thursday night, two patrol cars from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department collided head-on, injuring three deputies, authorities said.

Both cars were traveling east on Avenue P, but one of them was on the wrong side of the road, in the westbound lane, said Sgt. Mike Graham of the sheriff’s Palmdale station.

When the car in the eastbound lane attempted to make a U-turn at 3rd Street East, it smashed into the one traveling in the wrong lane.

All three deputies were taken to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster, where they were expected to be treated and released Thursday night, said Sgt. Ken Wright of the Palmdale station.

One deputy, assigned to Palmdale, suffered a separated shoulder, Wright said. The other two, both from a gang enforcement unit based in Lancaster, complained of back and neck pain.

At the time of the 6:15 p.m. crash, the deputies were looking for a robbery suspect armed with a baseball bat who had smashed the window of a car to steal a purse, Graham said. The suspect got away.