SUV Fleeing Police Crashes Into 5 Cars; 1 Killed, 3 Hurt

A speeding sport utility vehicle driven by a suspected burglar killed a woman when it plowed into several cars, including the woman’s auto, at a busy Los Angeles intersection, police said.

The driver and a passenger in the sport utility vehicle were critically injured, said Lt. Dave Tankenson of the Culver City Police Department, which briefly chased the vehicle before the crash.

A fourth person whose car was rammed was hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, Tankenson said.

The crash occurred when a sport utility vehicle with three burglary suspects sped through a red light at La Cienega Boulevard and Rodeo Road, which was packed with commuters. It slammed into five cars before landing on its roof about 6:15 a.m.

Police are still investigating the crash. The unidentified suspects are believed to have been involved in numerous burglaries in Los Angeles, Tankenson said.

Two suspects and a motorist were trapped in their mangled vehicles. The suspects, a man and a woman, were taken to local hospitals in critical condition. Police said a third suspect fled and was at large Tuesday evening.

The fourth injured motorist, Li Mau, 39, of Lomita was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she died, Tankenson said.

Early Tuesday, Culver City officers tried to stop the vehicle, which had reportedly been used in a liquor store burglary on Sepulveda Boulevard, said Randi Knott, department spokeswoman. It also matched the description of a vehicle used in a Sizzler restaurant burglary Monday night.

When the driver didn’t stop, officers pursued the vehicle, she said. Los Angeles officers joined in, but the nearest patrol car was 75 yards away when the crash occurred, Knott said.

The suspects had apparently stolen cartons of cigarettes from the liquor store, and cigarettes were strewn over the accident site, Knott said.

Witnesses said the accident occurred too quickly for anyone to react. Raymond Rouzan said he watched as the sport utility vehicle flipped over and flew through the air before striking his car.

“This happened really fast,” he said. “The impact looked like a movie. It didn’t seem real.”

Although police say the sport utility vehicle was already speeding when officers saw it, some witnesses were angry that police pursued it during rush hour.

“The police should know better. They didn’t need to have a high-speed chase in rush-hour traffic,” said Terry Taylor Hopkins, a nursing instructor who was in a car that was hit. “I just pray to God it was not something so minor as cigarettes that they would cause a fatality like this. This is ridiculous.”

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Times staff writer Hector Becerra contributed to this story.